


The First Rain

by tragicallywicked



Series: Rain Verses [1]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drama & Romance, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Mindsex, and actual sex too now, good old Jalice, just alice and jasper, midnight sun brought it all back, pixie soldier, texan ballerina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:08:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26293915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tragicallywicked/pseuds/tragicallywicked
Summary: "I was in Philadelphia. There was a storm, and I was out during the day — something I was not completely comfortable with yet. I knew standing in the rain would attract attention, so I ducked into a little half-empty diner. My eyes were dark enough that no one would notice them, though this meant I was thirsty, and that worried me a little. She was there — expecting me, naturally."What happened to Alice and Jasper when their paths first crossed in that stormy night in Philadelphia? What were the trails they rode in two years before joining the Cullen clan? It all began on that first rainy day, she had been waiting for him long enough, and he was finding what he had been blindly searching for.
Relationships: Alice Cullen/Jasper Hale
Series: Rain Verses [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936381
Comments: 59
Kudos: 77





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't tapped on writing Alice and Jasper in years, but I was so inspired by the new SMeyer book that I had to write about them again. I put it as 1 chapter BUT there might be more. They have been bubbling in my mind. If you like it leave a comment and I'll try to develop some more chapters!

_"I was in Philadelphia. There was a storm, and I was out during the day — something I was not completely comfortable with yet. I knew standing in the rain would attract attention, so I ducked into a little half-empty diner. My eyes were dark enough that no one would notice them, though this meant I was thirsty, and that worried me a little._

_She was there — expecting me, naturally."_

* * *

July was the wettest month of the year in Philadelphia; not that rain was unusual for the area to be pouring. Typically, it was way above the national average, which meant it was safer for types like Alice to be strolling through town. Nevertheless, she frequently favored to be out at the day's twilight, in case clouds became scarce and the precipitation halted. She had arrived in town when the weather wasn't as kind, by mid-February when the sun still soared and the drought was more constant. Alice could appreciate that type of climate; although it didn't leave her much room for flaunting herself in public, it did bring a likable glimpse of what the city looked like without all the fogginess. But Alice had come there with a purpose.

The vision had come to her as clear as water to where they would meet. Although when still hazy, it didn't discourage her from traveling south. She had been renting a place in Vermont for the time being, until it grew too overwhelming to stay put anticipating. No specific decision had been made yet, all Alice knew was that he would only come when the rain fell heavy, but she could wait a few months. What were a few months when one had expected twenty-eight years to that encounter? She wasn't foreseeing it to be a straightforward development, though.

She had seen how troubled he had been, influenced by his surroundings. Alice couldn't thoroughly predict how he would behave, there were just several different possibilities floating through still, and they all depended on numerous distinguishing circumstances. When he would decamp, how starving he would be, whether he fed or not before they met, what happened undeviatingly his departure... Things she would only get a more solid grasp as time progressed, and their encounter grew closer. But she braced firmly on that very first image she had all those years ago when she had been created...

_Alice opened her eyes widely, amazed by the blonde form before her, but she beamed at him, unlike her startlement. The force between them seemed like an aura of delight, bliss, understanding, love... It was all so serene, so calming. Took over her entirely. Every inch of her soul, every bit of her felt loved, desired, whole. Who was he? And then he uttered._

_"Alice." His smirk, too, took her off balance; she grinned even further._

_"Yes, Jasper?" Jasper. What an elegant and familiar name._

_"I love you." He didn't need to say it out loud, she knew so in her soul. By his gaze, by their simpers. But that still soothed her in ways one couldn't be quite articulate about._

Alice wasn't quite sure at first if she was, in fact, remembering something or seeing its future. But it felt as if that was what was meant to occur rather than her yore. She understood then, glimpsing him clamor her name, who she was, and that Jasper and her were fated for each other. With time, Alice saw more and more of him, things that happened in his existence throughout the years, what they would come to be once they found each other and their family, and all bestowed her hope. Not the visions itself, but the possibilities.

Somehow she had made peace with being on her own and not recollecting anything of her past. Those future glimpses gave her hope that a promising eternity was ahead, awaiting. Alice sure as hell did a lot of that, but time was unfolding closer now.

Rain had plummeted thick on that entire July. Alice made a routine of going to a diner by the road where she had seen they would come together. Once Jasper decided, she would know time truly arrived, but she relished wasting her time there in the hopes she might be stunned by his presence. Deep down, she knew it was unlikely, though. Some days Alice would replay the vision in her mind, of Jasper wandering into the restaurant, rain seeping from his locks. She would contemplate herself gawk at him, stand and walk up to the man she had long-awaited, beholding his complexion closely for the first time...

The waitresses all gossiped how Alice, the frequent and uncommon client, daydreamed a lot.

"She hardly touches her food, you know? She's very slender; maybe she has a condition." One would murmur to the other, over the counter, inconspicuous to most humans, but not to Alice. Served to prompt her to simulate grabbing a nibble or two every once in a while.

"Not polite to say, I reckon. Poor thing might just be deluded or in love." And indeed she was, but Alice didn't wish to attract any excessive interest to herself. Rather, she would periodically make a habit of carrying a book or a journal to blend in more.

They were decent past times, got her mind engaged in the tales, whether she was examining or creating them. Alice had remarkable drawing skills, so she often made sketches as well. The empty diner, two shadows meeting by the door. Golden eyes, a crooked smile, and half-moon shaped scars. It was often him, eternally him. Until she didn't need the pictures anymore.

Alice saw the decision being made a week before their meeting. Jasper was leaving Maria to seek something. A better eternity, perhaps an optimistic one like he had witnessed two of his friends share, he was done fighting. The day before their first meeting would take place, she saw the minor pieces unfold in her mind. He would be hungry, deep onyx irises. The precipitation would be pouring thick, and her favorite waitress would be on call. Good. Alice loathed seeing her intact orders, in her tries to seem human, go to waste. Caroline, the young girl waiting tables that afternoon, never really bothered when Alice just wanted a coffee or teacup. After all, Alice was a generous tipper. In the end, it would give Alice the focus she needed to have on foreseeing his arrival.

* * *

It was almost the turn of the decade, and the clothing style was already shifting. Alice always stood up to date with that. In the past twenty-eight years, Alice had perfected her vegetarianism and learned how to control her thirst for human blood. She also educated herself of history, as her recognition of who she was and the world had seemed to disappear when she found herself a vampire, Alice found a past time in fashion as well. She enjoyed how it changed throughout the years, improved, or became more inclusive and practical. The years of the Great Depression, then the time after World War II, how things became more functional and straightforward. And now the flare seemed to be returning steadily. People had higher incomes to consume, more places to go. Almost like life was getting back on track even after all that had been lost.

Alice hadn't had anyone to lose, but she watched how people changed because of that. She saw some ache and succumb into that whilst others took the fall to rise and thrive. Always, fashion followed humanity in their paths, emerging in the most fascinating ways.

Although unnecessary, Alice wanted and desired to blend in with humans. That aided her to find a sense of empathy and belonging in herself, as well as help her test her limits and push her to become a better kind of vampire, someone her family would admire, and Jasper would look up to as an example. During these attempts to become more  _ human _ , Alice worked at different clothing boutiques. Some produced custom made clothing, and that resulted in Alice getting herself into learning how to sew.

With her skills and enhanced senses, it grew all too simple to understand very rapidly. At work, she would oftentimes dumb herself down as not to bring any further awareness to her abilities. People were already mesmerized by her appearance and wit. But her designs at home were breathtaking. Alice got to showcase the outfits she had been working on when she relocated to a new town. But there was one she had been saving for that one particular meeting.

The day dress was a pale blue that contrasted gorgeously with her light skin. It had sleeves that went to her elbows and folded up in a darker blue shade topped by a delicate white lace. The collarbone was exposed slightly in a V cut, and it also had an out fold with the same petroleum blue tracing down her chest modestly. Although her bust was small, the upper part wrapped around her slim figure gorgeously down to her waist, where a belt circled and buckled with tiny gems. Below the waistline, the skirt opened flowy all the way down to just below her knees. And the shoes had the slightest heels to pump up her height. She added a beautiful petroleum blue side hat with little lace inserts and just the softest tule falling over her forehead. Her hair was nicely brushed to stay slightly curled on the edges that hit just the start of her neck. She didn't need all that to look breathtaking; most humans would turn their heads if she simply made the smallest effort. It was in her nature to drawn them. Alice did not only enjoy putting all together, but this was also a special occasion.

Equipped with an umbrella, not to ruin herself, and a dark grey trench coat that would help her blend in with the mere humans, Alice unbolted the door to face her future.

* * *

It seemed now, that time finally had come, the clock was running slower than expected. What if he had changed his mind at the last minute? Alice told herself she would have seen that occur; she couldn't have missed such an important choice, especially now that they were so close to forever. Her fingers tapped the counter impatiently, and Caroline, the quiet waitress girl, came over with a smile.

"All good with you, Alice?"

Politely smiling, Alice nodded. "Just waiting from a friend."

"He wouldn't stand you up." The waitress said warmly as a reassurance, and Alice knew she was trying to be sympathetic to her.

"I sure hope not!" Chuckling out air, Alice tried to tell herself that wouldn't be the case. She knew it wouldn't, yet excitement seemed to be overtaking her.

Caroline looked at her, strangely grinning. "No one in their right mind would stand you up." Alice smile, knowingly her vampire outlooks spoke for her over the human. But this, the one she was waiting, he wasn't a human who could easily be lured to her as all preys were.

"You're too kind." Majestically, Alice laughed softly. "He just always keeps me waiting." It was an understatement if one would know just how long Alice was anticipating to meet Jasper. Still, a scanty moment when one had eternity.

"Well, let me know if you need a refill." With Alice's nod, the waitress strolled off. Just then, her senses tuned outside, hearing the rain pour heavier. If she had a heart, it would have skipped a beat.

The time had come. Alice had seen it with clarity now.

She eyed outside to see a figure moving, just a mass  _ trying _ to approach the diner at a normal speed. But it wasn't genuinely usual for outsider eyes. He was there so fast that Alice had to brace herself.

It was  _ finally _ time.

* * *

Jasper hated inviting attention. Ever since he decided to leave Maria and her clan, he had been strolling without a course, trying to get somewhere he would find himself, discover what he wanted next. Jasper knew two things for sure: there had to be something better to be lived, and that he was done fighting. Killing had become complicated as he wasn't any longer influenced by Maria's toxic triumphs. It had always been hard feeling his prey's disturbances through all these years. He yearned for something more manageable. But as he was on his own, more intimate with ordinary feelings that didn't involve war over territories, he unearthed hunting was tough. He tried to look for targets that wouldn't be a waste to disappear humanity, people he felt the emotions to be the sinful nature. But who was he to judge anyone? For long, that had been his reality. He sought not to overthink it. He had to feed somehow, so he might as well do it only when extremely required. Although it didn't help him when the thirst was too intense. It helped to go unnoticed, not like walking in the rain as he was now doing.

He spotted a diner not too far and not too crowded. It would be hard with his throat burning so badly to be in that closed environment, but the pouring rain didn't truly help. His mind quickly circled on the number of bodies there. Jasper could take them all down quickly, in mere seconds, but at the cost of way too many victims. If he started, he would have to go through with them all. That would drag unnecessary attention. So he decided it wasn't worth feeding just yet. He would hide from the rain, and when darkness settled, Jasper would find his food.

Stepping inside the diner, he removed the jacket immediately, tapping his boots softly on the welcome mat. He clothed very southernly for that portion of the country, but Jasper knew it hadn't been that what dragged some eyes toward him. He took the hat out second, hanging it with his coat. Even with it, his hair's locks were soaked, dripping over the floor and his shirt.

On the other side of the diner, Alice observed it all happen. He pressed the door open slowly, making the little bell reverberate in the entire place where the few people chatted low. Some heads spun, but hers had been the first. Her eyes grew intense, anxious. Too keen to restrain herself, Alice jumped out of the stool just as he lifted the jacket. Her sight focusing pronto on how his body motioned as if in a dance, arms flexing as the clothing was hung. Her mouth watered when he peeled the hat, and she got a clear glimpse of his face. Alice admired jealously how the raindrop contoured his cheek down to his chin. Alice couldn't wait any longer.

She walked up to him just in time to catch him still at the door. Jasper's eyes turned to her, and Alice felt herself sinking in them just as she stopped, half a foot from him. She noticed the shock. The worry arose on his features, but all Alice could do was beam, overwhelmingly delighted with his arrival. It was pure and utter joy.

"You've kept me waiting a long time, soldier." Her voice was nothing but a hum, audible just for the vampire before her.

His hesitation seemed to dissolve right as his gaze found her amber irises. Jasper had no clue how they had gotten to such a shade, but it instantly captivated him. She was one like him, and yet she felt so unconventional from all he had ever undergone. The emotions exhaling from the dainty gal were nothing like Jasper had ever sensed before. They were the most intense and most calming he had ever felt from someone. It was an inexplicable feeling.

He ducked his head then, striving to be respectful. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

Alice felt something flutter inside her like she imagined a heart must fell when it's terribly and puzzling in love with someone. It was forward for anyone without her abilities to have such confidence of feelings for one they had just met, but Alice had a different outtake in life thanks to her talents. She had kenned Jasper for twenty-eight years, and now it was his time to know her.

She held out her hand for him and, for the first time, was surprised how he had caught it so swiftly. Her skin felt almost as if it was burning against her palm. They were creatures doomed to be forever cold like the first rains in Philadelphia, and yet she felt that her skin was tingling heta where it met his and that fire clasped her body in whole. That wasn't in any visions she had foreseen, and yet it felt utterly right.  _ Hope _ took over every inch of her. Maybe it wouldn't be so intricate after all. It was an even sounder possibility.

"We have a lot to talk about. Shall we take a seat?"


	2. At First Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice and Jasper get acquainted with each other, but what will the future be of these two remarkable vampires when they learn more about their pasts—and future?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you lovely people for the reviews I received. I've been on a roll with this story and there are two more chapters ready and on the reviewing. It's amazing to me that you're enjoying it (English is not my first language so bear with me if some grammar slips or something feels odd), I adore writing but even more, I love reading that the stories are connecting to people ♡

It wasn't arduous for them to find a reserved spot away from prying eyes with the diner only half-empty. Their hands clasped together was a sensation Alice yearned for the most extended time and induced in Jasper an agitation he hadn't experienced previously. None of them wanted to break from that, but they did unwillingly. Jasper was the one to break it, but before Alice could object, she had a vision that he would pull the chair for her, like the charming southern gentleman he was.

"Thank you." She hummed when the vision came to life, and she secured the seat he was holding for her. Alice awaited him to join across from her, and the minute Jasper did so, her hand enveloped his across the table.

Quite meticulously, Jasper observed the display. He wasn't genuinely accustomed to anyone of their species acting so forwardly and pleasant, especially not toward him. Sure there had been Maria in his life, and although their involvement wasn't just mere business, it was shallow in the very core. This wasn't courtship or lewd desire, no, it was nothing like it. That was intimate and personal in its essence.

For Alice, it all felt so familiar. But she didn't dismiss the fact that for Jasper, things appeared in a whole distinct way. She knew they had numerous details to discuss, and there was so much she had to tell him too. They wouldn't get into it all there at the luncheonette. But time wasn't an obstacle any longer. They had forever. Alice didn't see them ever parting after this moment on, so her heart could quiet and unwind.

She examined his eyes, and like she had foretold, he would be starving. The matter of the diet would have to come up sooner than later.

"I'm Alice, by the way." She said sweetly.

"And I'm J-"

"Jasper. I know."

He was quite shocked at the realization she knew his name. He had said so with such confidence, such firm conviction. He couldn't utter another word just yet, so Alice continued.

"I see you have a million questions," Alice said because she saw it all coming before Jasper spoke them aloud. Alice would withhold the talk about her talents for the moment, while the manageable questions were still circling.

"Am I that easy to read?" His question made her smile, and she shook her head hastily.

"I'm just assuming that from how surprised you were to see me just a second ago." Jasper scoffed amusedly, nodding.

"I must admit I haven't seen any approach as fierce as that not ending in a fight." She knew of that. Alice had also considered he would believe she was going to strike him. Throughout all the scenarios played in her mind, this one had the best outcome. Some parts were even startling her here and there.

"Jasper, I'm not going to hurt you." She found herself in awe, saying his name so clearly and aloud. Alice had repeated it so often in her mind; it felt comfortable rolling out of her tongue.

"You knew I would come here, and you know my name, should I be worried?" He didn't feel concerned, surprisingly enough. All the emotions arising, the feelings she was emanating, were soothing and appealing.

"No, Major, you shouldn't," Alice responded, beaming.

"What  _ is _ about you, Alice, that is so intriguing?" Jasper could perceive she was unlike any other vampire he had met. She was gifted; indeed, similarly, he had his own abilities. But he couldn't wholly grasp what hers were. There was also... More. Something in her aura evoked Jasper of the good old days when he was still a youthful chap serving the troops, a human.

He had no manners to articulate it. There was only  _ hope _ .

"The possibility, I suppose." She said simply. Jasper wasn't sure he caught up on that correctly.

"We will find out, I guess." Alice nodded at his words. 

"Tell me, it's Alice what?"

"Just Alice, for now." Her orbs faltered down, reflecting momentaneously on her past, which she knew nothing of. It disconcerted her from time to time to have no history, no recollection of what she had been. It wasn't often that those judgments befell, but they always got the best of her, even if for just a second.

Alice felt a flow of peace attaining her, winning over every inch of her figure. It was unlike what she had experienced before because it was so abrupt, so uncontrollable, so... It was Jasper. The vision came to her right there and then, not a prospective one but rather something she had seen a while ago. Maria ordered Jasper to control the newborns' emotions, which appeared to have upset him back then. Alice hadn't thoroughly comprehended it, but he seemed to have a way associating to the creations. Now she endured it, though. He could literally  _ command _ the emotions that encircled him.  _ That  _ was how his gift worked. It mesmerized her.

Jasper felt all of that too. The sudden sadness, the stillness he extended toward her emanating back, the astonishment with the sentiment, and at last, she was at ease. He didn't need to soothe her, but he felt strongly inclined to brush his thumb against her hand. Somehow the gesture was welcomed as Alice's eyes greeted him after that.

"Don't like or don't wish to tell?" He questioned, after a moment of comfortable silence sank.

Alice opened her mouth with a sigh, "Don't recall, actually. I have no remembrance of uh,  _ my former life _ ." She didn't need to be explicit for him to understand; he simply nodded. "Just the present, from the day I woke changed."  _ And the future _ , she added mentally. Jasper was mesmerized already. He honestly had little knowledge of life outside the war field he had existed in for so long. What baffled him more was as to why she didn't remember her past. Jasper knew every bit of who he had been before becoming a vampire. Although it was a scattered consciousness now, he hadn't forgotten it ever. Perhaps it was associated with the gift she bore, he meditated.

"How long have you been changed?" Jasper tried a more straightforward mystery, knowingly how the name appeared to have disturbed her. It mustn't have been comfortable for her, not knowing it all.

"Since 1920, I was all on my own." That took Jasper by an even greater astonishment. To think a vampire would change someone like Alice and not be there, or use her to their aid was incomprehensible to him. But that only enhanced more questions. Alice knew they would come as they went on, and she was ready to answer. There was no part of her that she wanted to hide from Jasper. But she still played with her choices and the visions in her mind as they befell.

"How?"

"I don't really know, I simply woke up." She shrugged before Jasper carried on.

"So, you don't know who changed you?" Alice shook her head. "Or who you used to be?" With the repetition of her signal, Jasper seemed to be getting more and more involved. "I'm taking, then you picked your name?"

That made her giggle softly, swaying her head yet a third time. "Not exactly, no. You helped me."

"I deem I would remember assisting you, Alice." Spontaneously they both shared a spark. Jasper felt utterly comfortable with her, something he hadn't ever had the prospect to feel. Always grieved, always ready to battle. To have such pleasant conversations with one of his kind, to be in such an inebriating atmosphere, was something that Jasper enormously obliged.

Alice repeated his kind gesture from before, stroking his palm with her index finger, "You're not the only gifted one, Major Whitlock."

"I noticed. I just couldn't entirely grasp what it is." He peered at her curiously, almost as if he was striving to read it off her. Alice solely smirked.

"In a second, I'll clarify, we're about to get company." He frowned at her statement and walking behind Alice came the waitress, carrying her small notepad.

"I see your  _ friend _ showed up, Alice." By Caroline's tone, it was pretty understandable that the duo looked nothing like  _ just _ friends. The waitress gaped the perplexed blonde with a flair of intimidation, and that made Jasper eye her and immediately calm her down. She smiled at last, "Would you like to order something or just coffee like your pal here?"

"No, thank you, ma'am." Jasper truly didn't see the point in ordering something he wasn't going to touch.

"Anything to eat?" Caroline suggested, stupefied for a second how striking the man seemed to be.

"We'll be heading out soon, actually, just waiting for the storm to ease. But thank you, Caroline." Alice informed the waitress, who agreed warmly and left them to it.

Jasper didn't delay to ask, "How did you know she was coming?" He was already starting the math inside his head, but somehow he obliged to gather it coming from her.

Alice ran the events of her answer in her mind. If she trailed off, he wouldn't trust her; if she lied, he would walk away. But in fact, there was never anything else but the truth in her resolution.

"I told you, you're not the only one with gifts, Jasper."

"And you know that I do. You also knew me and that I would be here. Then about the server was coming up to the table." She could see he was building hypotheses, and that made her smile affectionately.

"You have a theory."

Jasper nodded, "Mindreader?" Alice had to giggle, swaying her head.

"I have visions." She declared, in a fainter tone. Jasper was visibly astonished, but he was also undoubtedly impressed.

"You saw me coming." He gathered, and she nodded.

"You were the very first thing I saw. You were saying my name, that's how I knew it in the first place." Alice clarified naturally. There was a hint of concern overtaking her, and she knew it wasn't coming from Jasper; it was her own. Indeed, he would feel it, but Alice couldn't prevent it. The sudden serenity came following fast and she smiled passionately at him. "Thank you." Alice softened.

"Why are you worried?" He queried. As much as Jasper had a powerful grasp of emotions, hers were brand new to him. He was trying to read her better, to figure her out.

"I don't want to terrify you." She was crystal clear, looking down for a bashful moment. "It's an understatement to say I can be overwhelming."

"Actually, I find your presence quite calming." He chuckled out air, and the sound of his laughter made something drum inside Alice. It was the most fantastic sound. "So, that's how I helped you?"

"One of the ways, yes." Alice nodded her head once, rather quickly. "I saw we were going to meet here. You were the only I kenned when I woke up, my mind connected to yours more than once. You see, how my capabilities work is when a choice is made, I can see everything more clearly. Before that, it's only a billion possibilities. Not with you, I always saw you so clearly."

"And you have been viewing these images of me since you woke up?" Alice nodded, and Jasper quickly added, "Twenty-eight years."

"I told you, you've kept me waiting a long time." Jasper smiled at that. There was silence for a moment. His mind dawdled on the comfortable fit the delicate hand had inside his, how befitting it all felt.

"You're so complex, different." He whispered, tracing her knuckles with his index finger. Jasper carried on almost as an inner soliloquy, "There's something about your vehemence. Your emotions are nothing like I have ever undergone before, Alice. And believe me, I have experienced a lot."

"Tell me about your gift." She pleaded.

"Don't you know it already?"

Alice giggled, shaking her head, "I know you possess it and that it affects peoples emotions. I'm assuming I  _ felt _ it just a while ago." Jasper nodded. "But I don't comprehend completely how it operates. Tell me." The very second he settled on telling her, Alice saw it all, but she nevertheless desired to hear it. She wouldn't want to discourage him. Besides, hearing Jasper converse was close to a sweet cradlesong.

"I'm an empath. I can feel and affect the atmosphere in numerous distinct ways. Not solely transferring to people a particular sentiment, but inundating them in a cloud of those sensations as well as hiding one's emotions completely, in a way others couldn't even regard their presence." She gulped in nearly enthusiasm.

"That's impressive, Jasper."

"I suppose. Many thought so." His face grew a frown, but Alice's emotions were nothing if not supportive and relaxing.

"I'm not like Maria, Jasper." He shouldn't have been stunned that she knew the woman's name, but it still showed that he was. It made Alice grin. "Twenty-eight years, remember?"

Jasper nodded and appended, "You don't feel like her." He agreed.

"I didn't witness your abilities first, I saw you. Your smile, your eyes." Alice had to stop herself before she carried on because there was more to her vision than she let on. But the remark of the eyes caught Jasper back on a point he had been interested in.

"How is it that your eyes are so light and golden and not the usual bright red?" He questioned curiously, and it made Alice simper.

"I have a different  _ diet _ ." That appeared to only confuse Jasper even further. "Bears, mountain lions, deers..." Alice clarified, and Jasper snorted in utter surprise. "I know it's  _ unusual _ ."

"To say the least!" He chuckled amusedly. He marveled at what had lead her to try it in the first place. Perhaps it had to do with the fact she awoke by herself and had no idea how to get by. "But you have savored...?" Jasper's eyes trailed to a few tables down where a couple chatted excitedly, and suddenly he became more aware of his hunger. A scratch of thirst provoking him. There was an anxious desire for human blood flooding out of him, and Alice gave his hand a small squeeze. She tasted those emotions, too, unlike she had endured in years. His eyes hunted back to hers, somewhat apologetically.

"I have tried. When I first awoke. But the visions showed me new alternatives, possibilities." Alice clarified, and Jasper yielded her a nod. "It's different, catering from animals. Like  _ vegetarianism _ , you get full and the hunger eases, but it's as if you're never absolutely fulfilled. There were misfortunes, of course, notably at the start. A human walking way too close, someone getting an injury within a mile from me. But I learned to control myself, to focus on not desiring to kill. I've been excellent for a few years now."

The proudness in Alice's tone made Jasper smile with admiration. She was so intricate, so witty. "I never knew there were other options."

"Your life and the people around you had different faiths. But you don't ever have to do that anymore. If you fancy, I could practice with you." Even if Jasper didn't want to follow her dietary methods, she didn't see herself walking away from him. Ever. "You can be whoever you want to be now, Jasper." She would stand by him, no matter what.

Truly, Jasper comprehended little of a world that wasn't loaded with killing, fighting, manipulating. It had become tiring for him for a few years now. But being there with Alice in that diner brought him a tremendous peace. It brought him the purest  _ hope _ .

Alice felt such hope as well and then their gaze engaged profusely, intensely. They were silent for what a human would have thought it was a long interval, lasted minutes even. But they were taking their time sensing each other in.

Jasper was the one to break the silence, "Where do we begin?"

* * *

The storm had quieted down in the area when Alice and Jasper hopped out. She prompted her umbrella open, and Jasper gave an amused gaze. Before he could question it out loud, Alice played the next vision in her own mind.

"I just enjoy mingling in, it makes me feel more like them." He could smile cordially at that. Alice motioned with her head for him to join her below the umbrella and Jasper obliged.

"May I?" He pointed the umbrella, and she handed it to him.

Jasper carried it, covering more of her than himself, but the closeness provided him the opening to glide his arm around her waistline, a hand halting on her lower back. Alice glanced up with the movement, and for an intense moment, he was examining her emotions, endeavoring to determine whether he'd been too forward or not.

There had been  _ decades _ since Jasper felt that way, so irrationally moved by a woman. He was over a hundred years old now, and before Maria came into his life, he had met women over the years. When Jasper joined the confederates army, he was young, the youngest there was, but that didn't change the fact he had been a teenage boy even before. Jasper had courted girls before. He was invariably very polite but very charming as well. All that seemed way too long ago, and yet Alice made him feel like the human he had been all over again. That vivid young soldier full of expectations and aspirations.

All Alice could feel, with their closeness, was utterly ecstatic. She had fallen in love with Jasper the minute she first saw him in that vision, eyes intense, so scared but so beautiful. She loved him for twenty-eight years before they met. Being there with him now, by his side, at last, was all Alice had hoped for.

Jasper felt that thrilling sensation emanating from her, so he took the move wasn't too grave. And then he relaxed again, "Where are we going?"

"My home." Ever since leaving Vermont, Alice had rented another residence, nearby Philadelphia, just an hour drive out from the city's main center, in an area where it would be more inconspicuous for her to feed. "I see you need to hunt, and if you want to give my methods a try still..."

"I do." Jasper didn't know  _ why _ he wanted to satisfy her so badly, but sure, he would give the animals a try if it implied he didn't have to torturously kill another person.

"We can hunt there, it's way outside the city."

Jasper smiled playfully, "How do I know you're not taking me there to take  _ me _ down?" It made Alice chuckle.

"You'll just have to trust me." This tiny vampire was not one that Jasper would typically be worried about attacking him, but he felt he already had fallen under her spell and it wasn't something he aspired to run away from.

And he also didn't know  _ how _ but he felt strongly that he could trust her blindly. "Lead the way, Alice."

Although driving would have taken them an hour to make it there, once they were out of the streets and into the woods, Alice told Jasper not to bother about the umbrella and sped through the pine forest. Alice led the way, but Jasper followed right behind, just as close. Outsiders would think he was trying to catch her, but he was catching up. Alice was impressively fast for her size, and Jasper felt he had underestimated her again. Not any longer. They dived deep in the woods, turning every once in a while, jumping one or two broken trees. Both of them were soaked from the drizzle when they made it to the small cabin hidden in that pine forest's depth. There was a short path that led to it and before a little fence and a metal gate.

"Voilá!" Alice said in sheer enthusiasm.

Jasper examined the place and somehow thought it looked so suiting of the woman he had just met. Funnily enough, he knew so little of her and felt as if the cottage couldn't be more  _ her _ . It was simple but not the slightest modest with the well-kept flower arrangements, the pots set on the porch, and a swing.  _ Very southern _ , Jasper thought to himself as he gaped if she had selected the porch with the swing because she recognized he would appreciate it. Undoubtedly a possibility that he mused.

"That's a darn charming house, Alice."

"It is, isn't it?!" She gleamed, holding his hand in hers.

The gesture was still something Jasper wasn't accustomed to, but the overwhelmingly soothing sentiment that always resulted was reassuring. And for a moment, Jasper realized that the emotion was formed within. It wasn't Alice herself that tranquilized when they touched; it was  _ he _ who got that sudden peace when she held him. On the other hand, she was filled with excitement and delight, as he noticed while letting her drag him through the gate and the stone path leading to the house.

"I wasn't certain when you would come, so I busied myself. There are numerous books here if you ever get jaded." She rambled as they walked up the two steps to the porch.

"I don't think I could grow bored of you, Alice." There was something about the way her name rolled out of his tongue that sent a tingle down her spine. She blandly smiled over her shoulder toward him before ramming the house door open.

The place inside was even more remarkable. The extent was very quaint, a roomy living room with two couches and a television set. A small rocking chair dwelled right by it, and behind there was a counter that led to a small kitchen, which immediately made Jasper frown.

"A kitchen?"

"Blending in." She noted simply. "Not many humans haunting the place, but you never know!"

Jasper nodded, and his eyes continued to inspect the room. There was a small hallway with two other doors and a flight of stairs with some nooks underneath, adorned with art pieces. On the walls, that were a pastel grey shade, a few paintings from the renaissance era, all very feminine and bright. The place conjointly was an outstanding combination of refinement in art and books.

"You weren't kidding about the books." Jasper teased, and Alice grinned.

"Come, let me show you my studio." She strolled with him still in hand to the first door. The room was neatly organized, boxes everywhere with needles, threads, ribbons, fabrics, patterns, buttons, and sewing needs. By the window, there was a large wooden table with fabrics stacked on the side and a sewing machine in the center.

"You sew." In fact, it was quite clear that she did, he just voiced out loud and Alice nodded.

"I found myself searching for a hobby, and I absolutely love fashion." There was such enthusiasm in her voice, and the climate around them was suddenly similar to a five-year-old on a sugar rush. "It's just  _ so _ fascinating how it shifts throughout the years, with history clothing is always following."

"I can attest to that." He had seen quite a lot of adjusting himself.

"How old are you now, Jasper?" Once he decided to tell, she would obviously know, but never having that talk with him, she didn't precisely.

"A hundred and four." Jasper cleared his throat a little, and Alice thought he might be bothered by the age he had, but then it sunk.

"Ah, you're still hungry! I'm sorry, I entirely forgot, I fed before we met." She said, but Jasper shook his head gracefully.

"Show me around, I'm enjoying learning more about you." And he felt there was still so much more to know, to find out.

"Are you sure?"

"I've had to endure long periods without feeding." Casually, Alice grazed his hand.

"That door is just a bathroom, I mainly use it as a beauty room." She shrugged and led their way up the stairs where two more doors awaited.

Alice started the first door to reveal a modest room. Two tall shelves covered one of the walls; one was filled with books while the other was completely bare. There were also two sofas by the window and a lamp.

"I cleared that for you." She explained quite frankly, smiling at him. "I'm not sure you'll enjoy all the novels I fancy reading." That solved the boxes of books he had seen on the first floor. Jasper pondered for a moment how kind it had been of her to do so. It seemed like such a human life to have a single place to live, a home full of life, books, art, details. Nothing close to what Jasper had in the past hundred years. One could find themselves oddly alarmed by the possibilities it all implied, but somehow Jasper felt at ease. It was peculiar, but nothing ever felt more suitable than being with Alice.

"Thank you." He said as they stepped out of the room to the second door. A bed spaciously took the middle of the bedroom, and Jasper got genuinely puzzled by it. "Does the animal diet make you sleep?"

"No." Alice shook her head considerably promptly, but it was a vision a little harder to explain. As clear and easy as it all played in her mind, declaring it out loud was entirely another thing, aside for reasonably being too early yet for that sort of development. She knew Jasper was a gentleman through it all, so she didn't see it emerging to reality just yet. Instead, she went with a different alternative for the bed. "I like lying down to read. There's also something very charming about an actual bed in the room, don't you think?"

Alice had her own ways of trailing off things, but Jasper was a clever man. He was not young nor naive, and he caught up to it. But her was anything but forward, so he pointed the two doors inside the bedroom.

"Closet and bathroom?" He asked about each.

"The other way around, but yes." Alice nodded and continued. "Actually, let me show you something."

She let go of Jasper's hand to walk up to the closet. Inside the tiny space, she lit up a small bulb that dangled from the ceiling. The little room displayed several of Alice's creation and purchases on one side, while on the other, a few male clothes hung.

"I got you some things, made some as well. I presumed you might need a few changes, particularly after feeding the first few times."

Jasper smiled at her so genuinely. "That is very kind, Alice. You didn't have to."

"Honestly, you're the one indulging me when you let me do that. I truly enjoy it." Alice promised, looking back at him and then, only then, noticing their proximity. She had been so pleased about the clothes she didn't see neither predict his approach. That surprised her, and Jasper caught up to that emotion. He hadn't managed to surprise her all that often.

Both took in their height differences as Alice had to look up at him to meet his gaze. Standing just an inch away from each other, Jasper could smell how luscious her scent was. She was a remarkable little creature, so petite and yet so fierce. What was it about her that got Jasper, this resolute skeptical being, so at ease and trusting?

If Alice's heart still beat, it would have been slamming against her chest, drawing a flush of redness to her cheeks. His scent enveloped her like a magnet. Her orbs caught up on a few battle scars he bore on his neck and jaw, the only parts flashed. They were crescents like the sole one her body carried and exactly on the spots she'd seen in her visions. Alice hadn't stood so close to him earlier, neither at the diner, and that gave her an excellent prospect glimpse Jasper. It was all more pleasant than she had presumed it would feel. Intuitively she reached out to touch one of the scars, and Jasper retracted.

There was a pause in her journey, and then he let her carry on, inspecting the marks with light fingertips.

"Do they bother you?"

"No," Alice said firmly, looking at his onyx iris. "Will you tell me about them later?"

Jasper knew Alice would foresee it the minute he decided to, but he would still do it if she wanted to hear who he really was.

"I don't want to scare you..." He echoed her words from before, and as Alice beamed, he added, "...Away."

"There's nothing you could say or do that would scare me away from you."

And Jasper knew she meant it, so he would tell her everything.

"How about you teach me how to hunt first?"

Alice nodded immediately and took his hand again. They were quickly leaving the house into the woods again faster than they had made it inside the house before.

"Let's find your prey, Jasper."


	3. Hunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice teaches Jasper how to hunt animals and they discover the amzing depths of their bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're literally the most incredible people. Thank you for all the reviews here, and the messages on my tumblr and discord. You have no idea how that makes my day.  
> On that note, I left on my profile some extra content for this fic. At the moment a playlist (that will make more sense as we go, or I can always explain lol) and a banner I made. If I make more content I'll be sure to link there and let you know. THANK YOU again.

The woods in that part of Philadelphia were tranquil, especially at dusk. The sun had set already and the birds retrieved to their nests. The animals that crawled at nightfall were more hushed, predatory. Alice found it only made the hunt all more appealing. She noticed it helped when it came to controlling her thirst for human blood because it kicked her instincts in. There was also the fact humans were less likely to be hiking in the area. It was safe for her and even more secured for Jasper's first try.

They halted on top of some rocks and Alice crouched, taking in the scent of the ambient. Jasper's fragrance turning out to be slightly distracting. The breeze kept blowing his way and Alice discovered a newfound adoration for how it calmly involved her entirely like it had done at the diner and again inside the closet. She beamed at him and stood up.

"There's a sleeping deer just a few feet from us and a mountain lion half a mile north." She offered him the possibilities. "Use your instincts the same way you would in  _ other _ circumstances."

Jasper nodded mutely. He had been observant of Alice, such an enthralling and intrepid gal. After their conversation and learning bits and pieces about her life, Jasper could tell he admired her courage greatly. There had been few people he found to have such conviction and valor. He saw newborns break for a lot less than what Alice had endured in her twenty-eight years. He could only presume how the visions made it all the more overwhelming. From his own talents, Jasper was aware of the strains those gifts had put him through. Alice's appeared all the more extraordinary.

One thing seemed to warm the stone-cold heart inside him: she had seen him. Of all the foresight she could have had, it was Jasper she first predicted. Although there was no real certainty about why that happened, Jasper knew what it meant deep inside. He was seeking for some purpose in immortality, and Alice had been searching for him. Perhaps that ought to indicate something about them. Even if Jasper didn't wish to be too forward, in some mysterious way, he felt that he was precisely where he was meant to be.

"What do you suggest?" He questioned then, matching her grin.

Jasper observed her more attentively now. Her eyes seemed frozen and distant as if she saw images that weren't really there. Briefly, at the luncheonette, he had seen her do the same but only now sunk in that Alice was having visions. Her lips pursed together in a thin like and the slight furrow settling across her forehead were very characteristic; Jasper understood now that his eyes were so supremely faithful to her.

He almost instinctively stepped closer to her, placing a hand on her elbow. The gesture immediately brought her back and Alice offered him a smile.

"The deer. You can take down the mountain lion, but it'll have us chase it too close to the city line. We don't want to risk that just yet." She clarified much to his startlement still. Jasper was genuinely impressed by how Alice could run over the possibilities in her mind.

"The images most overwhelm you." He commented, his voice baritone echoing her heart. His pollex had been gently brushing against her arm now. Alice smiled with a brief nod; she thought it was very dearest of him to worry.

"Sometimes. I learned to manage, but it's hard to tune them out." Her face moved away from Jasper and her eyes went glass like again. "We have to move, your feast is waking up."

Jasper remembered her instruction from before to let the instincts command and took in the scent. There was fresh wet grass all around and the moss from the trees. He spotted the smell of some birds and squirrels inside their nests. The wind blew and he caught on Alice standing so close to him, briefly that made him smile. She had the most luscious and luring scent he had ever seized.  _ Focus _ , Jasper told himself mentally and with another sniff, he located things further away. The deer and the mountain lion. But the closest prey was all on his focus now. Jasper hissed low and he heard the animal get on alert mode.

He was the fastest vampire Alice had encountered. He moved with such agility, immense experience. She followed behind him to the deer, watching as Jasper landed onto the animal, immobilizing it with ease as his teeth plunged onto its neck. It was dead quickly, no pain or suffering, no fear. Jasper began feeding and the darkness began clearing his eyes to give place to a lighter red.

With Alice stepping in, he paused to look at her, offering the animal. She smiled but shook her head. "I fed earlier, makes me quite full to do so too often. It's all yours, Jazz."

Closely, Alice observed how the nickname took Jasper by astonishment until it melted into a gracious smile. He was this scary, scarred vampire with a dark past, and there she was, that delicate creature calling him by sweet names. Sure took him back to witness such development in his life.

While he finished feeding, Jasper queried if Alice would be so keen on him if she knew the entire story. She had been alive for twenty-eight years as a vampire, a time he could evoke being disconcerted by his actions already, so he couldn't be sure that Alice knew of the man he had been. Her unselfishness and generosity were remarkable. She had learned all on her own not to hunt humans, Alice had gone the extra mile to become someone better. Jasper felt undeserving of her time and dedication. Of course he couldn't see himself walking away, surprisingly. They had met just a few hours before, and the bound felt stronger than his and Maria's had been for nearly a century.

He remembered Peter then and one of the conversations they had before his desertion. At the time, Jasper didn't know about Peter's involvement with Charlotte, but the friend had confessed to him something that Jasper overlooked until now.

"It's not supposed to be all weak knees and racing heart when you meet the one, Jasper. When you meet them, it's quiet and calm. As if you've finally found your place." Peter had told him then, and Jasper mocked, saying his friend was getting overly sensitive and that those things didn't happen for people like them.

Jasper wasn't wrong at some level; they didn't happen to who he was then, so driven and focused on battling and war. But he was changing; the world was changing. Jasper didn't wish to be stuck in old beliefs and the wrongful past he lived.

With Alice, even if just so briefly together, he felt exactly how Peter had described. So maybe, just maybe, Jasper could admit that Alice was what he had been looking for.

There was hope.

* * *

Back at the cottage, Alice gave Jasper a change of clothes even if his weren't too bad, they were still drenched. She knew he had been journeying for days, and freshening up was always appreciated even for vampires. While he climbed into the shower, she changed out of her own wet garments and went to find herself a new book to read.

Alice had just concluded reading A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennesse Williams the night before and found herself skimming through her collection. It would be arduous to surpass that one. The book had just come out the previous year, and Alice was captured by the narrative. She considered reading yet another Hemingway, but she often busied with one too many of his books. Alice plucked out her copy of Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. She had read it just once before but treasured it genuinely. There was something about it that felt bittersweet.

Alice relied massively on books to spark her imagination of what her past could have been, knowing nothing about it. Some were mere past times, but others truly brought a sense that something comparable could have happened to her. At times she would tell herself it was all deranged speculation and that the memory loss could have something to do with the one who turned her. None of that seemed to matter now that her whole world was there, showering just a few feet away.

As Alice sat on the porch swing with the book in hand, she strived to keep her visions from floating off to Jasper in the bathroom, but failure wasn't something she abhorred at the moment. Alice bit her lip when she prophesied his approach, hair still dripping slightly, like at the diner, but now donning a comfortable attire and beaming at the sight of her on the porch.

Just a minute or two later, her vision emerged before her eyes, making her smile.

"Found you," Jasper announced as Alice adjusted herself on the swing, tucking her legs underneath her figure. She patted the spot next to her so Jasper would join in. "I loved those porch swings. I haven't sat in one of these in ages."

"When was the last time?" Alice sought, putting the book away as he joined her.

"My 'ma had one. So it was maybe when I was sixteen? She would sit on the rocking chair, and us kids we would take the swing. She was always knitting or reading us a passage from the bible." Jasper gasped at the fond remembrance. He hesitated, deeming about how it had been  _ way _ too long. All the people in those memories were gone now. There was just him left. "We dreaded when she was rendering us the bible."

" _ We _ ?" Alice frowned slightly and Jasper carried on. 

"I had two siblings. They are long gone now, I imagine." Considering that Jasper was now a hundred and four, that was the only probable explanation. He hadn't ever gone back to that area of Texas to find out either.

"You never looked for them?" He shook his head and Alice felt a wave of embarrassment overtake her. She knew immediately it was emanating from him and reached out to hold his hand. "Well, it was probably for the best. You could have put them in danger."

He decompressed after that, agreeing. "You're right about that. I have never been the most welcoming creature." That made Alice grin kindly, tilting her head as she gaped him. She was no empath, but it wasn't hard to read that there was so much blame, regret, and hurt.

Brushing her thumbs up his arm, the feeling of the small bumps on his skin caught her eyes. Alice had seen it in her visions, but it was entirely different to inspect it so flamingly under her fingertips. There were so many crescents adorning his limb. Alice traced it up to his elbow, where his sleeves were rolled up to, and forced herself not to relinquish further. She didn't hold back on the curiosity though, biting her lower lip casually when her eyes met Jasper's again. He was serene and amused.

"Battle scars." Alice guessed, making Jasper nod and grin.

"That's a way of putting it."

"I got one too." She taunted and rammed a small lock of hair away from her jugular to reveal the crescent reposing just below her earlobe. Alice's hair wasn't long, it was actually relatively short for a woman. But it was always neatly brushed and pinned to place. It had a dazzling nineteen-twenties flair to it. But Jasper was prying on the scar.

He dissected the bite carefully. I was neat, sharp and precise, most certainly done by an older of their kind. He queried then if the Volturi might be involved in that. But then again, he had never seen, in a single case, a situation where the ancient vampires wouldn't have taken advantage of powers like hers. They wouldn't simply turn her if they hadn't any clue what Alice could do, and they undoubtedly wouldn't leave her wandering if they knew her powers. So it couldn't have been them.

"I can tell the vampire who did it is very controlled." Jasper clarified with Alice's inquisitively eyeing his inspection. "You see, it's not too deep, so they didn't get carried away. There's no struggle either. You could have known them or—" He paused, considering and suspecting the possibility.

"Or?"

"You could have been asleep. Had you fought the bite, the marks could have been deeper or clumsier." He sought for one in his arm and showed her the mark. "This one, I was surprised with and fought back," Jasper told and then revealed her a second one, cleaner. "This one I saw them coming, but I was quick to remove them. Yours is even fairer. There was definitely no struggle." He knew a great deal about it and, of course, that she had suffered with the venom after, but maybe not during the bite.

"I genuinely can't recall." She clarified with a smile.

"Neither the pain?" When she shook her head, Jasper blew surprisedly.

"I woke up as a vampire, even if I didn't know that's what I was."

"And then you saw me." Abruptly Alice felt perfectly happy, as the images of that original vision overran her memory. Jasper felt that same utter fulfillment.

There was something so comfortable about Alice, about how her emotions were divinely pure, and yet she didn't feel innocent at all. Her gifts brought her truth and knowledge of a future she couldn't ever grasp with precision, of the enormous amount of possibilities eternity could bring to her and others. It was a lot of weight for one to carry, a massive amount of responsibility. Jasper assumed that could drive anyone mad, but evidently, not Alice. Her visions brought her safety, direction. She had discovered to live with them and use it all to her aid and survival. He hadn't had such a fond familiarity with his own gifts.

"You helped me, Jasper." Alice murmured, her kind eyes never leaving his face even with his orbs drifted to observe the yard. "I understand it's a lot to concoct and grasp that you could have somehow aided someone that you never met, but you did. In so many ways." Her visions brought Alice not only tenacity but also hope, strength and utter love. She belonged somewhere with someone, and that was  _ always _ Jasper.

"I can't remember the last time I aided someone in  _ any _ way." With regret, he admitted inaudibly. Jasper couldn't find it in himself to stare back at Alice, who had reached over to hold his hand again.

"For the past twenty-eight years, you have. If there was any way to show you, I would." Although her tone was playful, Alice meant it. There hadn't been a single day for the past years that his image in her mind hadn't brought her peace. 

Jasper eyed her as a thought crossed his mind. "Maybe, in a way, you can." She grimaced, but it faded as her vision blurred into the coming events. Alice observed them sunk into absolute stillness as she cherished every time Jasper had helped her in the past, and he sat beside her, experiencing it all.

"Oh! I didn't realize."

He knew by then she'd seen what he was going to suggest but said it anyway, "I can feel everything you feel. Most of the time, I try to keep it on the surface, but I can tune in the best  _ frequency _ like a radio."

"That's remarkable." Alice gaped, nodding promptly. "We might be here a while." She had seen it already in her vision, so she warned warmly.

"I have all the time in the world." Hearing him say that brought Alice a remarkable feeling that things were falling all in the proper places.

Jasper didn't have to hold her palm to tune in with her emotions, but as Alice shut her eyes, he gripped her hand tighter. His thumb smoothing her knuckles encouragingly.

Alice took her time running over all the visions that had ever spanned her mind concerning Jasper. Some had already befallen him by now and others that stood to unfold. Each particular one stamped in her essence as a world they hadn't partaken unitedly, but that molded who they were going to be.

In every single one of them, Jasper felt the nuances it produced in her atmosphere. It was such an intimate moment, examining the depths of her sensations, the shifts flush even slightly. Jasper periodically equaled his empath capabilities to the ability to hear the drumming of people's hearts, only loudly inside his head. Vampires had no heartbeat, always frozen in time, but sharing that with Alice felt as if he was  _ inside _ her heart, tasting it pulse distinctly to every new turn of events.

He yearned to know what she saw, what those sentiments were related to. There were infinite of them for such a small individual. Delight, respect, anguish, longing, jealousy, affliction, cheer, desire, lust, crave, passion, and the most utterly wondrous love. Every single emotion invaded Jasper so vigorous, settling in and embracing every inch in his body. It was all so devoted, intimate.

None of them had any clue how long they engaged in this, but no amount of time seemed to be enough. Alice's untarnished bliss dwelled across her features as all that ever involved Jasper did. He was her personal craving for so long that all felt as still a dream. Sharing each emotion that he had ever induced in her, with an open soul, felt sublime.

When her eyes lastly reopened, he was gazing her so profoundly. The red orbs so patient and gratified. Jasper had never felt so wholly connected to another living or dead soul like Alice had just done. It wasn't the simple fact he could go into the depth of her emotions but the truth behind them. He understood then their tie surpassed anything he had ever witnessed or endured in over a hundred years. The twitching pull her presence had, the peace her sentiments brought him, and the welcome always found in her eyes were forever to be cherished by Jasper. He knew then that he would eternally do  _ anything _ to protect her. There was no longer the feasibility of him walking away. Alice saw that too.

"Alice." He uttered quietly.

She didn't pronounce a word, instead inclining to rest her temples against his, eyes closing again. There was more silence, but it was all so serene and adequate. Her free hand grasped to stroke his cheek, grazing her nails against his cheek blandly. She saw his next words but let him go on with them.

"I did many things I am not proud of." He breathed out, at last closing his eyes. He sunk into her scent, her presence, as he told himself he would leave if she ordered him to. But Jasper wasn't sure any longer he could ever have the strength.

"Shh..." She shushed him nimbly but tenderly. "You never have to be that again."

"Alice." He pleaded this time. Jasper stretched to touch her arm as his other hand stood there with hers, fingers linked together. He knew so much about existing in pain and destruction. But standing there with Alice was coming back home. Living eternally and perceiving the world around him so profoundly could be alright as long as she was there, as he could still hold her.

"It's not going to change how I feel about you, Jasper." She calmed, assuringly.

"You still deserve to know."

"Then tell me, I'm all ears."


	4. The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper tells Alice about his past and an almost-incident among humans brings them closer together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you a BILLION times again for your messages and reviews. I just want to hug you all! Hope you're enjoying the story. Let me know if you want to see more of their talks, I skip some stuff sometimes not to bore you all with my endless dialogue ideas haha
> 
> Very important, I've updated the rating in this story because I did end up writing a scene that's mature content (not in this chapter but it's coming up soon), so be advised.

Back inside the cottage, for no specific reason, Alice and Jasper reclined comfortably on the couch of her living room, side by side. Alice folded her legs under herself and sat sideways to extend her full attention to Jasper as she had done outside.

He fidgeted with his fingers for a moment, reckoning the reasonable way to commence the conversation. Intuitively, Alice clutched one of his fists into hers, molding the big spoon of their hands and solacing him. She hadn't the necessity to explain much at the moment because the tranquility fluttering toward him was glorious. There was no judgment, only loyalty.

"I don't know where to begin," Jasper admitted.

"How did you become a vampire?" She encouraged then, and he deemed that it was a suitable point to begin the tale.

"At seventeen, I joined the Confederate Army. Commonly, a young fellow like myself wouldn't have been permitted to join the frontlines, but I always had a way with people. I could regularly persuade them of my convictions and points of view with ease. Usually just by telling them, bestowing my side of the coin." Alice endeavored, curiously registering how that appeared astonishingly comparable to his abilities now. Jasper carried on, "My siblings were older than me, but the war had taken its toll in our family, and I assumed combat would aid them and everyone else.

"Two years in the army and I was ranked up to Major. I was the youngest Major in the Texas Calvary during the Civil War. People genuinely esteemed me, and there were killings everywhere, so they appreciated I was still alive. I had exceptional fighting and shooting skills and I knew how to handle authority. Something was making it obvious for people to follow me, neither I could comprehend it. They utilized to their leverage, of course. Recruit more, which upheld their front of battle. 

"I met Maria and her sisters, Lucy and Nettie, in Galveston. I was helping evacuate women and children of the area as there had been reports of invaders threatening the frontlines. Twilight had sunk, and, of course, I presumed they had gotten lost from their group during the evacuation. I dismounted to help them, of course. They were the most beautiful beings I had seen in my entire life, but something about them felt unfamiliar. I kept my distance, but I got a glow in the red shade of their eyes. That didn't make me run away, although I should have probably wouldn't have changed anything. Maria was fixated in me already, affected by my humanity. She perceived something in me that could assist her in her affairs, something I didn't even know about myself yet.

"Lucy also regarded that I was an officer and that could serve them, as Maria told me later on. My participation in the field could help them qualify the troops they were creating. Newborns." Jasper clarified for a moment as Alice glared.

"It's when we're at our most formidable strength. A newborn army can effortlessly defeat humans, without requiring all that amount of bodies. Nettie and Lucy were interested in my abilities as a soldier, but it became more for Maria. After I was transformed and became clear my manipulation talents, she recognized how that could exceedingly toil well in disputes. Maria was invariably endeavoring to reclaim what once belonged to her.

"She was a much older vampire, whose regions had been invaded when she wasn't even one. Once, she recounted me how it all sprang. Her village was decimated when she was young, and they grew up having to continuously struggle for their home in the world. The vampire who turned her wanted to exploit her people even further, but he obtained his downfall. He had no clue how strong newborns were. Maria herself annihilated him without anybody's assistance. She was fighting for the people she had seen die.

"For the longest time, I embraced that fight. I was shown to reality, that what the Confederate Army was doing just reproduced the wrongs that happened before. She was applying man's strengths against them. It was impressively clever. But then again, she was never foolish."

Alice had been silently taking in the tale, but questioned then, "What drifted you away from her?"

"The endless battles. I was weary of it all. Even before she turned me, when I was in the army, it felt misplaced to be butchering lives like we did. So carelessly of their stories and intentions and emotions. The feelings truly got to me. The reality that I could undergo it all, the slaughter, anger, revenge, and the fear... I was drained and empty living like that. I used to be about helping people, and I thought I was fighting all the right battles for a long time. First with the Confederate Army, then with Maria. I don't discredit her cause, as I do the army. Hers was a more righteous cause than the one I used to be in. Maria herself had gotten me to see things differently, how the side I was on worked for all the immoral intentions. But I began to discern ahead, I was—am... I am so exhausted of fighting." There was a burden when Jasper avowed that, staring away from Alice for a prolonged moment as he appeared to recollect his spirits.

She waited patiently for him to take his time.

"Maria has a genuine purpose in striving to reclaim her territories and fight for the people that were viciously murdered. But I didn't see myself being any better when we had to discard our armies. I believe it is all portion of the means that drifted us apart. I was in it for her, and she was in it for the cause. But with me tasting all our newborns felt when I had to dispose of them, I couldn't do it any longer. I fled when she had me find her new soldiers. Concluded my assignment and granted one of them with a message for her." Alice seemed puzzled at that, flickering in wonder. "I informed her I was retiring, wished her well, and wished that she attained what she was looking for."

"What do you think she was looking for?"

"For a while, I thought it was retaliation. But as the years went on, I realized she's fighting to recover what it was stolen from her... A better life, opportunities, to be seen and understood." Throughout the years, took him a great deal of reasoning, witnessing society progress and transform, following how advancement shaped things, for those conclusions to settle in.

"It's not a bad cause," Alice told him intently.

"No, it really isn't. I suppose you could say I wasn't as strong as she is to keep on going." Jasper breathed, and at last, he found Alice's eyes again. "Doesn't reduce the fact I did repulsive things as a human and a great deal of those as a vampire."

"No, it doesn't. But you acknowledge it, Jasper, that's a start." The hope in her timbre served well to soothe his unquietness. "Do you regret entering the army then?"

"I do." He answered honestly. "I lament supporting on the wrong side of history. And it isn't something I can put any culpability on. It was a choice that I made and that I ought to live with."

"But you can determine _how_ you live with it, you can decide not to make the same mistakes again and be different."

Jasper heard those words with a hushed nod. He would do it, he understood that now. Looking into Alice's eyes, he had a lucid revelation of the man he was intended to become. There was so much faith and trust arising from her, her aura loaded with encouragement and support.

"I want that. I want to be different."

"And you will." She had seen it just a second ago, the sight invading her consciousness furiously vivid. He held her as they sat by a large glass window that overlooked a green forest. She was in front of him, tucked in his arms that wrapped around her in a tight shelter. On the vision, she gazed up and saw his eyes looking down at her, so light golden.

Her momentary halt told him she had seen it, and Jasper smiled.

"Will you help me?"

Alice mused, nodding.

"Always."

The rest of the night revolved lazily with Jasper and Alice chatting. He shared with her the knowledge he had on newborns and how the south's armies had been operating all these years. She was astonished by the fact so many vampires were in these regions. Alice concluded it would be more feasible for them to be moving around or taking residence up north where the sun didn't shine as abundantly and radiant.

Jasper told her about the Volturi as well. He was astounded she had no idea who they were and why it was crucial for their kind to maintain a low profile given their unrelenting sentences. Alice hadn't had a creator around or many encounters with other vampires. She never knew what to assume of her kind, even with her visions, so she often avoided them, constantly mingling with humans instead. Which dismayed Jasper.

While he told her of the episodes he'd seen the Volturi intervene, she told him about the jobs she had gotten amidst humans. While he emphasized the battling technics for vampires, she told him why she had resolved to study how to read and sew. They were opposed sides of the same coin, but they completed each other. Jasper taught her what was essential to know as a vampire and Alice directed him on how to be more human.

It was dawn when Alice suggested they go for a stroll. The conversations didn't cease, but it felt more casual wandering around. The forest was quieter and welcoming at this hour, but it was the sunrise that she wanted to see. They halted by a cliff and Alice perched on the highest crag, marveling the first beams of light on the horizon. Jasper slowed his walk and lingered back to contemplate the silhouette of that tiny vampire resting before him. She was so free and still, taking in the sun that shined straight into her skin and shone back an elegant spectacle. If Jasper had a living heart, it would have thumped fast for Alice.

When he finally joined her, leaving the trees' shadows to accept the sun declaring what he really was, he took Alice's hand.

"You do this often?"

"Every day." She confessed, looking over at Jasper. The sight of his skin glistening the sunlight, the blonde waves that befell modestly around his jowls, and even his eyes' red shade were all a striking sight. "I feel _alive_ here."

"It's a delightful sentiment." He had endured it originating from her, but now he understood why it was so pleasant.

"It is." 

They were there for long, sharing in each other's presence. After a while, the warmness began settling and the birds flew around. "We should head back. It'll start pouring soon."

Jasper chuckled, "I need to get used to that." He got up first and stretched his hand for her to join.

"You will."

* * *

"What do you commonly do during your days?" Jasper asked when they returned to the cabin. Alice had been putting away some of the books she removed from the shelves for Jasper's arrival.

"I haven't been working here in Philadelphia, so I normally take a stroll in town. Some days I purchase textiles and come back home to sew. The others, I read a novel or draw at the cafe. It really depends." Alice simplified and hurried to join his side. "Is there anything you would like to do?"

"Well, I don't have all that practice amid people like you do." Jasper appeared worried, but Alice heartened him with a simper.

"You have nothing to fear. If there are any menaces we should worry about, I'll see them occurring." She captured his hand encouragingly. "Besides, it'll be drizzling, so not too many people on the roads."

Jasper debated but finally exhaled out, "What do you propose we do?"

Alice nibbled her lip, considering it through. "We'll take a walk downtown."

"Alright, ma'am." Every time his southern accent came out so dense like that, Alice could taste the fervor overhauling her entire body.

Before they departed the house, Alice left Jasper's side to prepare herself ready. He was rapid to change into the clothes she had for him and his old cowboy boots. Afterward, he accommodated in the living room to wait for Alice. He was tuned in the excitement originating from the washroom, amused by how cheery that woman could be.

Alice took her time putting on a light makeup, combing and pinning her hair to place and selecting a beautiful day dress. It was pale pink, fitted her beautifully around the waist. Still befitting for winter but appeared bright and delicate. The cloak was unmistakably irrelevant for a vampire, but it helped her fit the part.

Jasper gawked when she joined him in the sitting.

"What do you think?" She grinned, reaching for the umbrella in case they needed it.

"You look stunning." Jasper was rising immediately, speeding to her side and offering her his arm.

"Thank you, sir." Catching his arm, Alice guided their way out of the house.

Just as Alice had foretold, the streets were almost empty because of the light drizzle. She and Jasper strolled the roads under the umbrella, Alice's hand perfectly enveloped around Jasper's arm. They looked like they were made for each other. Passerbys that traversed them had to glance twice at such a striking couple that exhaled sheer exhilaration. There was not a single human that didn't feel a sense of satisfaction crossing them. It was strange for Jasper to remark them feel this easiness. Naturally, humans would tense up to his predatory nature. But not now, not with her beside him.

It didn't make it any easier on him though, to be so close to humans when he hadn't satisfied on them in so long. Jasper didn't _feel_ hungry, but he couldn't say his larynx didn't ich to the fragrances around him. He tried to sharpen on Alice, how her digits curled intently around his bicep, and how she would gleam at him from time to time. That eased the obstinate appetite.

She was the most magnificent creature Jasper had ever seen in this unending eternity. The peace she brought him and the happiness she continuously illuminated were addictive to Jasper. Especially after he had been profusely stuck in sensations so dissimilar from those.

"Oh, look at that fabric!" Alice beamed, halting by a storefront to examine it from the window. It was a frail lace, in marine blue, one of her personal favorite. She envisioned herself using it to make a dress. Then saw herself donning the piece by Jasper's side, laying on the meadows. Finally, in the last vision, she witnessed Jasper shedding the dress in their chamber, unveiling a matching undergarment with the identical ornament that embellished the dress.

Her eyesight converged back to the fabric lying there anxiously on the store's showcase. If she could fluster, Alice would be lively ruby cheeks. But the most embarrassing part was that if her face didn't give her away, her emotions did. Jasper had clearly perceived the vacillation in her feelings, and she validated that he did when mustering his prying gaze.

"We ought to buy it."

He heaved a brow, and the most extraordinary side grin crossed his lips. "I don't know exactly _why_ , but I strongly agree." He knew why, but declaring aloud was complex.

Alice panted. There were no qualms; he felt the intense desire overtake her in the last vision, but his wonder got her even more fervent.

"Come along." She shouldered the door, overhearing the chime ring, while Jasper dealt with their sunshade. "Hi!"

"Hello, welcome. How may I help you?" The saleswoman came along, seeming remarkably astonished by the duo. Jasper ducked his gaze; knowingly, his eyes were burning red and scary.

"That lace on display? I'd like to take about three or four meters." Alice directed, smiling so delicately at the woman, unafraid and comfortable around her.

"Of course." She went on to get it. "Working on a project?"

"Oh yes, I'll apply it on a dress. It's a sumptuous fabric, it'll look charming on it." Alice conversed excitedly, the paintings from before meddling her brain over.

"It is extremely high quality as well. It'll look beautiful, I'm sure." She marked it for Alice and asked, "Would you like me to convey it to a specific designer in town?"

"I will take it with me, thank you. I tailor it all myself."

"That's remarkable!"

"She's very gifted indeed," Jasper said at last, though he avoided eyeing the saleswoman. Eyes striving to busy mindlessly on the fabrics that covered the walls.

The woman was startled, having neglected he was there. Jasper felt her agitation, and that was a feeling he was used to, but he still coated tranquility toward her. "Let me get this cut and packed for you."

As the woman swung around to travel to the back, Alice tensed up with the revelation. She envisioned the woman fumbling an inch further with the shears and blood aroma striking the place ultimately. All that arose was exceedingly rapid and intense. It triggered Jasper to instantly pursue and trap the woman on the back until her life was finished. He tasted sorrow and remorse after while Alice held the guilt for quartering him to it, for not preventing him.

It all unfolded fast in her mind. When she surfaced back to reality, Jasper was beside her, staring, disquieted for her tremors. He experienced the terror, hunger, satisfaction, and at last, the pain and blame. All of what her visions brought her. It all made him extremely concerned.

"Actually!" Alice shouted out the lady midway through it befalling. "I changed my mind."

"Oh." The woman stared suddenly disappointed. Deep down, so did Alice.

"You should take it, Alice." He encouraged then, distracted by her displeasure.

"Jazz, I—" She couldn't find a suitable manner of describing it, but he somehow appeared to follow.

"What if we purchase the intact lot?"

Alice ran that option in her mind, and the images showed _way_ more promising. "That would be grand." She eyed the saleslady, who observed them thoroughly disconcerted. "We'll take the entire piece, no need to cut it."

"Very well, let me gather it for you."

When she was out of sight, the two vampires exchanged a gaze.

"I'm sorry." Jasper muted.

"You didn't do anything, Jasper." She stroked his jaw encouragingly, but he glanced away with a rustle.

"But I was going to."

"Don't do this to yourself. There is always a different possibility." Gently, her thumb smoothed his cheek. "I shouldn't have put you through it so soon."

"Perhaps I do require a longer practice to be around humans." He confessed, and Alice nodded promptly.

"Nothing wrong with that. We'll make do." Alice craved they were at that moment already, as the utter urge to kiss him overhauled her. But she held herself back, particularly in public. "I'll help."

"I might oblige to hunting again."

"I'll accompany you this time." Her orbs had a darker shade. She had experienced the ich in her throat throughout the vision, examining him so anxious for the blood.

They were off the shop not long after. Alice paid for the textile, and Jasper was carrying the pack for her. He hadn't realized until then how he never carried mundane items like money. He would have cherished acquiring the piece for her, but the feasibility was never something he had to do as a vampire.

Back in Maria's clan, they had their own methods of acquiring such resources. Sometimes from their victims, as it was customary amid most nomad vampires. That was another very human aspect of Alice. But it was something Jasper made record that he might desire to readjust.

After dropping off their shopping at the cabin, they both went hunting. Jasper captured a mountain lion and Alice went for the doe. It was hushed for a long time, but he examined her closely all along. She hunted and her spirit changed from this cauldron of emotions to a predator, ready to attack. Alice was agile, skillful, and clever. She would have done great in battle, and Jasper conjectured it was because Alice could foretell every move in her victim. It was unquestionably a unique talent.

"You are extremely quiet." He elucidated back in the residence when she handed him a towel to clean his face. Alice was idling for him to pick it up but withdrew with the remark. "Did I do something?"

She swung her head, nearing him. "I hadn't felt such desire for human blood in years, but I saw it so sharply in the vision that it frustrated me, I suppose."

"So, I did do something." He taunted.

"You didn't." Alice chortled. She was standing an inch away from him now. Her hand reached over with the rag to wipe the blood off his lips and cheeks, cleaning it smoothly. "I sometimes disregard what I truly am."

"An unbelievably extraordinary woman?" The observation made her smile, but Alice shook her head.

"A vampire."

"I know." He smoothed his fingers against her elbows, and it facilitated when he hauled her against his figure, closing any gap separating them. "You are nothing but exceptional. You escorted me among humans, shunned turmoil, and had me feasting on animals twice now."

"Well, when you put it that way." Her knuckles dropped along with her concentration when Jasper drew her so intimately. She could feel his thorax pressed against hers and his eyes investigating every nuance of her soul. "Jasper, I—"

The images were formulated so fast in her head. Alice profaned herself for demolishing the surprise. Jasper kenned she'd seen it by the way her lips crooked up in a smile.

There was no uncertainty from any of them when their mouths ultimately collided.


	5. New Selves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't know what to write on the summary???? Uhhhh basically welcome to the smut chapter. Enjoy!

The sensation of belonging was a concept hard to grasp. Explicitly feeling righteous in one place wasn't always easy to achieve. But Alice and Jasper shared that superb connection right there and then. Not a sense of possession or property toward each other, no it was nothing like that. They were in their element with each other, launching against one another like it had always been that way. Naturally moving in grand synchrony, the large blond covering the small brunette.

Alice felt as if any weight she carried entirely lifted from her shoulders when her lips found home in his. Any anxieties she had that his decisions would change, affecting them to follow separate paths, all evaporated within thin air. Jasper was the one to impute for such great bliss, revoking all concerns to fill her with faultless desire, curiosity, and enthusiasm. She never felt so excited, avid. In her hunger, Alice tiptoed to reach further, throwing her arms around his scruff in a sudden motion, pulling Jasper down to plunge deeper into her mouth. There was a considerable height difference between them, a whole foot and then some, the angle didn't facilitate their ardent appetite for each other.

They didn't  _ require  _ to part for air, nor did they wanted to. Alice favored to save her breath for other vital activities. Jasper could appreciate it, the intimacy, the impetuosity involving them. He never cared much for sex, although it did occur with some regularity between him and Maria. It just felt like a physical discharge most of the time. It was never this overwhelmingly annihilating, this blur of sensations, and all he and Alice had done was exchange a kiss.

The first kiss. So many countless more were to happen, an eternity of those, Alice could see. But that didn't make them any less weary by this very one. Jasper's tongue slipped idly inside her mouth, taunting her fervor. Alice could taste him in her essence. The tang of his venom slipping down her throat was even more enticing than blood itself. She was succumbed in his arms, utterly devoted to the obscure lust that provoked every inch of her pale, frozen skin. Alice didn't recollect being a human but couldn't really believe anything else felt that baffling.

His right arm took a firm clasp of her back, endeavoring to lift her up slightly toward him, whilst the other caressed up her arm until it reached her face, cupping it. She blazed under his touch. The awareness that eternity was one dull temperature dissolved completely to the both of them. It wasn't forever solitary and crisp; instead, it felt profoundly feverish.

Both of them tumbled over each other when Jasper tried to hold her steadier. She was reaching up to his level, longing for more and more of him, her tongue gliding against his. But Jasper ached to set the pace, to take charge of the mess of emotions radiating from her. He could feel it all so intensely. The enthusiasm, appetite and raw lust. Jasper was overwhelmingly addicted to it, but he wanted her to taste his own desires. Just as easy as he felt all of her, he allotted his own sensations to flow, echoing her every emotion.

Alice muffled what would have been a blatant moan against his lips. The surge coming from her Jasper stirred in her a wildfire. She hadn't any clue he had been retaining such void within. "Jasper." She panted while her fingers dawdled up to grip his hair, tugging its locks  _ just right _ . He felt that fluctuation, the explicit  _ demand _ for him.

He hadn't ever felt this way. It was sheer  _ madness _ Alice had swept him off his stability, walking into his life just the day before. He saw himself yield and drop each and every skepticism, allured each time more to her. Alice was his particular drug, and every new pressure of their bodies made him more addicted.

"I can stop if you want me to—" It occurred to him how  _ human _ Alice was in her own vampire way, and Jasper was aware it wasn't customary for humans to dive into such outbursts. Not without institutionalizations and time, and even then, many didn't indulge in it. Jasper would respect if that was Alice's decision. He was a gentleman through it all.

"No!" Alice pleaded, seeing the vision changing with his doubt. Taking charge of it herself, she yanked him toward her again, urging their lips together. Surprisingly enough, this time, it was slow, torturously lazy.

Jasper bent over to meet her lips, devouring them with utter eagerness. But that wasn't enough. He needed more, he ached severely for her, and their height difference wasn't especially helping now. Hooking his arms behind her knees, hands spread across her stocking covered thighs, Jasper hoisted Alice in a single motion, pressing her up against the hallway wall. She gulped, the excitement of his arousal against her conveying Alice on a frenzy. Her legs wrapped around his hips on a secure grip. All Jasper wanted was fast and rough, but Alice retook control of their pace, exploring every length of his mouth, savoring him how  _ she _ wanted. 

Her lips broke from his to pursue a pathway along his strong jawline. Her teeth nibbling the scared skin sent a shiver down Jasper's vertebrae. The angle was much pleasanter and enabled Alice to plant soft kisses on his throat, pecking his jugular. It was almost like she could taste his absent pulse against her lips. The urge was so strong, Alice gave in, slowly sucking on his neck, scratching her teeth ever so slightly against his skin. It was Jasper's turn to groan.

He couldn't retrieve the last time he felt so lascivious. Alice spread an intense wave of drought and want, such a deep yearning he could barely restrain himself. But she was setting their speed as lazy as viable, the woman had waited twenty-eight years to be with the man she loved, she was going to relish every minute of it, as human and unhumanly as possible.

The nonchalance and calm coming from her, Jasper picked up and interpreted instantly. There was still that intense desire, the lust, but he understood exactly what she wanted. Jasper held her small figure with security as he drew Alice away from the wall, carrying her up the stairs to the second floor.

The light was faint because of the rain pouring heavily outside and the lamps not being lit up. Vampires didn't necessitate much to see, and the lack of visibility only magnified their senses. He savored observing Alice that way, with the moonlight as their only company, embracing her curves with its mild glow. He settled her down, and this time, when his hands cupped her cheek and his body arched down to meet hers, Jasper kissed her leisurely.

The emotions he was emanating were so rich in counterpart that Alice felt almost tortured. She  _ sensed _ how badly he desired her, how every inch of Jasper was longing to have her. Alice never deemed it was possible, but her knees felt wobbly, lacing her hands around his neck to find her security.

They wandered to the bed, never disrupting the kiss. Jasper was going to set her down on the cushion, but Alice hurriedly shifted their positions in an abrupt motion, sitting Jasper down on the bed instead. She hauled back to contemplate him in utter lust, that was shared from them both.

Alice was torturously striking, lips plumped and hair dissolute. Jasper had observed it so perfectly combed and pinned before. Now he had a glimpse of how the short locks pointed wildly everywhere. She was superb. He thought of objecting when she took a step backward, but the words dissolved in his mouth when Alice reached behind her back to undo the opening of her dress. He responded as if he was losing his breath.

The fabric descended deliberately down her body, brushing down her shoulders until it got caught on her hips. Jasper reached to her aid, with a sturdy grip of the fabrics, drawing Alice that step forward again. His cold nose found her stomach, nuzzling her lustrous skin gently before his lips planted a kiss on her navel and teeth nibbled its way down.

Alice didn't hold back her groan this time, palms clutching fistfuls of his hair to haul again. Jasper suddenly had a newfound pleasure in the way she did that. Her response fueled him, to push the dress completely down to the floor. Alice donned an impeccable lingerie combination, with a garter belt and stockings. The wine-colored pieces, except for the socks, utterly sublime against her skin.

Jasper took in every inch like he was mapping her body. Her bust wasn't large and yet the round shapes fit in a small and perfect curve on her silhouette. Jasper profaned that the brasserie was still on because he would have appreciated capturing them with his eager lips and hands. Her waist was smaller, thin and her hips followed the upward pattern with just a slight curve. Her thighs were firm, muscled in just the right measure. But it was her piercing eyes that made Jasper feel as if his core was beating again. He had to lean back to cherish the beauty of her frame for a moment.

She took advantage of that vacillation to step out of the dress and straddle him. "You're overdressed," Alice complained while her fingers clutched the arduous task of unbuttoning his shirt. She realized how much she enjoyed the position, sitting there on his lap with his groin pressed against her intimacy, her face right at his level, taking complete control over him.

That power movement was rapidly distinguished by Jasper, and it brought a smirk to his lips. "You like this." He challenged amusedly.

"What?" Alice questioned innocently, but Jasper wasn't buying it.

"The control." She bit her lower lip, caught in the act. "I enjoy it too." Surprisingly, he declared. Jasper was always in control, it was different than manipulation, so it was pleasant to let go of his guard to let her take the lead.

She didn't say anything. Alice sank in to kiss him again. Her mouth sculptured at the same generous pace her hands did, removing his shirt, but she halted when her fingertips felt then crescents injuries that covered his arms completely.

Jasper granted her time to inspect it when her mouth pulled back from his. He figured she must be horrified as the frown dwelled across her temples. Alice was intrigued but not appalled. She outlined each of his scars on his arms and moved to trace a map of his chest. Jasper was stunned when her fingertips were displaced by her mouth. She distributed small kisses to his scars, but only when her tongue traced the crescents that Jasper lost control.

Alice felt his cock pulse toward her middle while his knuckles grasped her hips with strength. She panted, biting his chest in return. He hadn't ever behaved so instinctively when he flipped them over, placing Alice's back on the mattress with enough force to make the wood structure squeak beneath them. To that, Alice giggled. He was this massive and strong vampire all of a sudden, taken by his desire for that woman, and there she was laughing with her arms and legs encircled around him.

"You are one frightening little monster," Jasper taunted, he was smiling too when he paused to peer at her.

Both of them just held still in that moment, exchanging a long gaze. Their souls connected in such a mysterious level, Jasper couldn't begin explaining. In a hundred years, he had never contacted or even seen  _ anything _ like it. Did he love her? How was that feasible when he had just met her?

"Come back to me, will you?" She traced his jaw, seeing his mind had gone far. Jasper beamed at her again.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." He told her cheekily before inclining to capture her lips again. "I'm right here."

What unfolded was more hurried than before. Both of them aching for more, impatient to endure the boundaries of their emotions, if there was any. Jasper unclasped her brasserie while she undid his belt. But as he had wished before, he leaned over to take each areola in his mouth. That sent her concentration to hell. Alice arched against his touch, eyes shutting tight to savor the surge of pleasure he was causing her. Jasper drank on her delight as he fed off her, like an eager lover, devouring her body most deliciously.

He didn't require touching her to know she was wet, the scent of her pooling center had taken over the room, but Jasper stretched down anyways. His fingers massaged her mount in slow loops over the fabric. Both of them felt her agitation pile up, and Jasper took the lead, shoving aside the undergarment to meet Alice where she really desired. She was soaked already.

Alice whined loud this time, the touch and anticipation crawling from her intimacy to her entire body until it exuded straight to Jasper, making him want her so much more. He tracked kisses down her stomach until he was met with her garter belt. It wasn't so much Jasper didn't have experience removing those; he simply found them awfully unpractical. But he did so  _ happily _ anyways, unhooking the stockings before unclasping the garter and rolling all down her legs, along with her underwear. Bare, she was even more remarkable than Jasper had portrayed.

His hands ran up her thighs, touching the inner skin just to spread her legs open. Jasper felt her shiver under his mouth when his lips found her center. Alice was feeling herself explode in slow motion. She had never felt anything more sublime. The voyeuristic images of them that kept filling her mind with every decision Jasper made only contributed to her stimulation. His tongue lapping her labia and clitoris nearly made Alice lose it. Instead, she reached over to yank his locks blandly.

"Jasper..." Hearing his name melt on her lips in utter pleasure made Jasper throb more and his covet for her expanded toward Alice. "Come up." She ordered when the emotion swept her. Jasper was unwilling. Instead, he invested deeper into sucking her vulva. She didn't hold back her appreciation for his enthusiasm.

It wasn't until her legs trembled and the breath escaping her lips graced rare that Jasper pulled back. He had felt the intense orgasm taking her fully a second before, but he hadn't stopped until she was wholly consumed. Alice felt slightly giddy, taken aback with the orgasm still overhauling her muscles, but she looked down just in time to see the wondrous sight of his face lifting from between her thighs, rumpled hair falling over his face, and his tongue licking his lips clean. In twenty-eight years as a vampire, Alice never felt so out of breath.

She prompted herself up on her elbows to eye at Jasper when he stood up. Alice sat up quickly when he reached for the buttons on his pants. "Let me." She clarified. He wasn't the only one emitting  _ need _ between the two of them, and she had mused over and over about undressing him.

Loosening the buttons, Alice pushed Jasper's pants down. She couldn't deny she was startled to find him so free and at ease underneath the clothes, no undergarments, and her breath was caught again. Jasper was enormous, thick, manly, and his thighs muscular. Desire took over her as she watched him all naked, with boots on still.

It wasn't until Alice seemed lost for a short moment that Jasper realized she had never actually had sex. He kicked off the boots and joined her on the bed instead. Hovering her body with his own as he planted kisses to her shoulders, neck, all the way up to her lips.

"I—" She opened her mouth to say, but he covered her lips in a slow kiss.

"I know."

"I thought I was the psychic here." Alice mused, feeling the relaxing wave Jasper sent her way. She wrapped her arms around his heck to bring him closer, devouring his mouth. 

"We can slow down if you would rather," Jasper told her, his hands stroking the leg Alice had stubbornly wrapped around his waist.

"I waited for twenty-eight years. I want you now, Jasper." Her tone was determined, and she honestly didn't really have to say the last part. He knew, without a doubt, just  _ how much _ Alice wanted him. She arched against him, nonetheless rubbing herself against his cock to prove her point. "I never desired you more." She muttered in a faint gasp when Jasper actually pressed her down against the mattress. She could feel his cock rock hard against her vagina.

"I want you too." For a moment, Jasper stood still, and he lifted the barriers of his emotions again. He had been so used to doing that, sometimes he didn't notice himself holding things back. But he wanted her to know all he felt, so he let it flow to Alice.

She wailed so loud, just from welcoming all he felt, the lust and passion fulfilling her entirely. And then there was love. Alice wasn't expecting to experience the same matching emotion that ran through her regularly when she thought of him. That wondrous love that gave her hope from so long was now coming from the other way around. She wasn't anticipating it, not so easily and so soon. But it was there prowled between all the desire. She couldn't feel anything more comforting. Jasper didn't need to say it; maybe he didn't even understand it yet. But Alice knew now, she had felt it.

When Jasper finally opened her legs and placed himself between them, she gaped at him again. He was waiting for her avail and when he got it, Jasper didn't delay. It wasn't a comfortable fit at start. Jasper wasn't just large, but she was also small. It was surely a tight fit, and he sensed the uncomfortableness on her when he made his way down into her. Jasper reached between them to massage her clitoris. That and the wave of unwinding he sent her served for them to get roused.

He didn't move until the swells of pleasure were coming from Alice again. When that happened, Jasper began thrusting in the pace of her crave. They only grew stronger and stronger. Alice began aching for more with every jab, wanting him deeper, faster. She didn't say it, but Jasper felt the lewd covets, and he matched each desire with fervor.

The luscious moans and grunts escaping both their lips mixed and dissolved into their mouths as they exchanged passionate kisses.

Beneath them, the bed began squeaking again, this time louder with each pound of Jasper's moves. The pace became so intense it occurred to both of them that the bed may not endure them. It wasn't like any other human fucking. It was literally two inhumanly strong beings, jostling and rolling against each other.

As the pleasure and the emotions started peaking up with every obstinate roll of his hips, Alice had to grasp onto Jasper's back, nails digging deep on his skin every time he hammered her deeply. His name continually escaping her lips, along with incoherent sweet nothings. Jasper was so bewildered with her lust and her pleasure, he couldn't sustain withholding anything either. Alice could feel it all, that astonishing pleasure he felt too, that brought her so near the edge.

It fumed over all together when Jasper felt her so close. He speed up, shoving obstinately farther into her. That drew her right where he wanted, up and over the cliff of her orgasm. Alice didn't hold back the vehement scream of his name. Observing her peak brought Jasper over the edge, too, and he followed her on with a thick load.

"Alice." He panted loud, moving still in the aftershocks of pleasure. She was shaking again beneath him. Jasper realized for a brief moment that his own frenzy had sent her on yet another spasm.

The bed shrieked and shattered underneath them the second that followed, taking even the psychic by surprise. Jasper had instinctively covered her body with his own during the fall, in an attempt to protect her. Past the shock, they gazed at each other. They both bubbled into laughter after a second, still in the cloud of sublime pleasure. Alice had never felt so incredibly satisfied in her entire existence, and that was assuredly the best sex Jasper ever had.

He planted a kiss to her chest, taking in her scent and the smell of their sex mixing with the ambient. She smelt it too, that newfound arousing aroma. The impressive part was Alice felt as if she could run across the globe or simply go at it again.

"Already?" He asked, raising his gaze up to her with amusement when he sensed the desire burning again. Alice chuckled, biting her lower lip.

"We might need to relocate."

And they did. That night, unlike the one before, there wasn't much room for talking as they spend it rolling around like that, tirelessly.


	6. Survival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies! I know, it has been ALMOST A WHOLE MONTH since the last update but let me tell you Jalice Week has been breaking my legs as much as it's been a blast. Many of you know I do organize the event so between organizing and creating content for it, I slowed down the big fics a little bit. But we're here at last, yay!
> 
> You'll notice a chapter count has been added (and they now have names), that's because now I know for sure all and how things will unfold and how it is going to end. It's going to be a wild ride so I hope you stick around and you enjoy it.

The sun rose lazily that morning, with fog in that cloudy Philadelphia making its light faintly invade the room where the two figures crawled the couch, cuddled and bare. The previous night had been a haze of emotions and superb lovemaking, and the aurora surfaced the madness they had turned the home. Obviously, they hadn't slept, nor they needed to. Still, Alice had a habit of shutting her eyes sometimes while her visions meddled her brain. It felt like sleeping, lounging in the comfort of what her future with Jasper held.

It always amazed Jasper how many human customs Alice had, especially considering her shortage of information about her own human life. When he observed her closing her eyes just before dawn, he didn't foresee the carrousel of emotions arising from her. Was she napping? How?

"I let my visions come. It relaxes me when they're of you," Alice clarified when the sight of him asking what she was doing showed up in a vision. She also didn't need to open her eyes to recognize Jasper was grinning at her comment.

"It sure brings you pleasant sensations, I see." She peeped him nonchalantly and amused.

"Close your eyes and join me."

And he did, as they stood there _dreaming_ until the daylight had settled in, embracing each other close—Jasper her big spoon.

Alice sighed in content when he placed a kiss to her shoulder and she opened her eyes to meet his gaze. "Morning." Alice mused, a smile dancing on her lips.

Jasper smirked lightly and his fingers reached to cup her cheek. "Slept well?" He taunted, making Alice grin.

"Like never before." Her hand traced his arm and the feeling of the bumps on his skin caught her eyes. Now, with the sunlight, she had a clear glimpse of the scars she had planted kisses on the night before.

Her fingertips were gentle over the wounds. It was a tangibility Jasper wasn't truly used to, so he mechanically withdrew. She looked up at him with a concerned pout.

"You don't like this?"

"It's just different. New." He explained, hesitant. Alice tilted her head a tad, eyebrow lightly raised at him. "I suppose I'm not fairly used to having my scars examined so intimately. I realize they can be intimidating."

"I find them charming," Alice confessed. She shifted her position and Jasper matched it, laying below her now instead of beside her. It was a laughably small couch, he deemed mentally. But there wasn't much else after they broke the bed. He decided the floor would have been nicer because that way he could effortlessly just roll over her again.

"I wouldn't describe them as that fascinating." He suspected her sanity for a second, following as Alice traced the ones covering his chest now, fingers moving down to his abdomen.

"They're who you are, Jasper." She told him with amused annoyance. They were elegant in her sight, Alice couldn't grasp how he didn't see it that way.

"Broken?"

"Strong." She said assuredly as she bowed down to peck his lips gently. "They tell your story of survival, of transformation, of overcoming things." Her words were romantic but also profound, and Jasper was taken by how deeply they affected him. "Each one of them is a testimony you were wiser, you outlived every single attack. And now that you're here, you don't have to endure that ever again."

Jasper stared at her longly, in silence, studying her beauty. Not the external one that she definitely had. But, in this case, the virtue of her pure emotions, of the sincere faith Alice radiated toward him. Made him feel such absolute tranquillity and comfort. There was no doubt he belonged by her side. If she could make him feel so well about all he had been through, it was his pledge to always make her experience the same.

"Your scars brought you to me," Alice assured him at last, her hand brushing on the one lodged across his jugular, that she reckoned it was his first one.

"Then, I am appreciative of every single one of them.”

* * *

It took Alice and Jasper an entire week to decide they needed, in fact, to get themselves a bed again. In between their journey on each other's bodies, they found that merely transferring the mattress off the mess they had made of the structure was much handier. It didn't seem a quandary at the time, for they were consumed by the lust for one another. Alice was very detail-oriented, and Jasper could sense her endeavor to ignore that there was a bed snapped right in the core of their room.

None of them felt expressly secure to have Jasper run errands in town with Alice, among many humans, after the _almost_ event in the previous week. Primarily because Jasper's orbs had been turning a pitch-black shadow again. Much unwillingly, they opted to part for the afternoon. Alice would venture on her own to find them a new frame. It would still have to be transported to their house, but that wouldn't be too much of an obstacle as Jasper could solely go hunting then.

"Are you sure that you don't wish to try and come along?" Alice asked as she tightened the fit of a belt around her waistline. She hadn't used that many clothes in days. They had ascertained that strolling almost bare around the house only made it all more _accessible_ for their unswerving pursuits. Alice, stripped from _most_ of her modesty of being nude in front of him, would often slip on just a light robe (Jasper, much obliged, would flay it in short hours). He, on the other hand, didn't especially object roaming in all his glory.

"I am not as confident on me as you are." Jasper taunted as he stood behind her, watching her through the reflection in the bathroom.

As she placed the clip-on earrings, Alice beamed at him over the mirror. Jasper was so much taller than her that Alice scarcely stretched to his chin height even in her heels. Their eyes met again then.

She didn't lament when the unforeseen wave of heat invaded her, but her lips did crook amusedly.

"Well, you should trust yourself and _me_ when I say you'll be alright." The teasing timbre made Jasper chuckle and bow to plant a kiss to her jaw. His lips lingered longer as the desirous surge hit her again. "One would think you would be tired…" She curbed her own need, shaking her head at him.

"Believe me, it's surprising to me too." In this newfound high of being around Alice, Jasper wouldn't have guessed he'd feel so invariably aroused for her. It wasn't a response that was that natural for him. He always had a theory that those diversions were merely physical necessities, like feeding. But with her, it was entirely changed. The emotional devotion added a whole new level of dependence to the empath.

Alice spun around on her ankles to engage his ardent call. Tiptoeing with her hands already on his shoulders, she sought his lips. Jasper bent over to meet her halfway and satisfy his fervent desire. He never considered he would require something more strongly than blood. But Alice was continually proving him wrong of his expectations.

They kissed deeply and Alice thanked she hadn't yet applied the lipstick.

"I won't be gone too long." She assured, panting upon his lips. It was more of a self-observation. She didn't _fancy_ being gone long.

Jasper had his temples pressed against hers, eyes shut tight. It was really sinking in how they hadn't separated since they first met, and concern overtook him abruptly. Alice felt it instantly. He didn't hold it back with her around, at least not lately, as she had observed this past week. Jasper's habilities surpassed feasible, but gradually she was discovering how intrinsic they positively were. She realized he didn't just dominate and manipulate, but he also shared it, that Alice relished thoroughly. Learning what happened to him helped her uncover more about her partner. Improved their communication, even when they didn't have the sounds. Like now.

Her hands ran up his face until they were cupping his cheeks tightly. They were still, but Jasper pierced his eyes down to meet her gaze.

"What are you afraid of?" She inquired, thumb grazing his skin.

"I'm not sure." It was a disorder of bewilderment if he was going to acknowledge it to himself. Of her not returning. Or of his own consciousness determining it was best that he left. Jasper couldn't declare it out loud, stewed it would become concrete.

Alice halted, the visions arising as her brain searched for the clues that Jasper was looking for. He hadn't actually inquired them, but Alice didn't require him to. She could detect those uncertainties on the depths of his own private soliloquy and find him the fortitudes he was rummaging.

"You won't go anywhere. Neither will I." She smiled at him, coming back to herself.

His limbs were now a sturdy grip around her waist, hoisting her up toward him and just the slightest off the floor. He did that repeatedly when she had been having visions. He'd go and stand by her, or hold her protectively close. It was something Jasper had been doing unconsciously, but Alice had noticed.

Jasper could trust her words, but it was her surge of tranquillity that made his chills fade. "Don't take too long." He pleaded, making Alice stretch for his lips again.

That gave Jasper the opportunity he was looking for to perhaps persuade her to stay. His tongue endeavoring to prove his point as it traveled inside her mouth in a delightful slow rhythm. Alice moaned, turned on by his lewd kiss.

"Jasper." She scolded him, but her fingers were spreading across his scalp, inside his silky curls. They kissed repeatedly, and Alice could feel herself gradually slumping on his trap.

He hauled away wholly, leaving Alice disconcerted and horny. Her heart would be racing had it been a beating organ still. But there was only the pulsing agitation flickering toward him—the crude arousal. Jasper was quite satisfied with the outcome of her privation. Alice would regularly waltz on his lap, kiss him senseless, and slip away to busy with some unnecessary mundane activity. This sort of tasted like payback, and he utterly savored observing her spurt in turmoil as he inclined back against the opposite wall.

"Not fair." She whimpered, trying to breathe her senses in.

Jasper smirked. "Just some encouragement for you to return quickly."

"Consider it accomplished," Alice complained, gnawing her lower lip so harsh she could taste her own venom in her mouth. The sigh that escaped her lips made Jasper chuckle.

"Don't forget to get the metal frame, see if it will withstand us best." The wink that followed his words wasn't just a gesture but yet another wave of lust he hurled toward Alice.

"Stop." She ordered, turning herself back to the mirror with a smile that was both annoyed and delighted. "Let me get ready, so I can be back sooner."

"Alright, alright." Jasper pushed away from the wall, planting a kiss on the crown of her head before he left the bathroom.

Alice drove in a long breath, controlling all these sensations he was sending toward her even after he exited the room. In the living room, Jasper pretended to busy himself with outlining down a map of the region. But in truth, he chuckled with amusement at Alice's ever-shifting responses in the bathroom.

* * *

Upon Alice's departure, Jasper relaxed by the map to truly commit to the design. In the times between the endless lovemaking, he had found a hobby. Jasper always thoughtlessly appreciated it during his wartime. Mapping wasn't an easy task. It demanded time, study of the areas, calculations. But it enormously entertained the vampire while his partner sewed. At first, he found enthralling to observe Alice do so, but even he admitted to needing a past time of his own. Alice suggested he do something that he fancied, and with the help of her supplies of papers and pencils, he began it.

Their cot was the center and Jasper had previously sketched the map of a mile radius around it. He would step out sometimes to investigate the forest, explore what was northeast or south, and return to draw it on the records. It all started coming together in this striking masterpiece covering their coffee table. Alice cherished watching him do that as well. She would perch on the sofa and pretend to read while inspecting him closely. Jasper knew well her eyes were on him. He felt her every emotion and could plainly discriminate between her novels and what was for him.

They nearly ruined the entire map during the week when Alice found herself far too pleased by Jasper. He found it to be way too enjoyable of a response not to indulge. They managed to salvage the map at the end. However, he was still mending some of the parts they ended up crumpling entirely on the process of doing it on the coffee table.

Jasper discarded one of those wrinkled pieces as the image of Alice invaded his mind. He yearned to have her around. It was the first time they had been altogether apart since the diner, and it felt unnatural. Jasper hadn't anticipated feeling so emotionally addicted to her aura, but there he was thinking of her.

These superb and pure sentiments were brutally interrupted when his senses caught up to a loud human noise outside. It wasn't customary for humans to be hiking in those areas. That had been the main reason Alice selected the cottage in the first place. But the wandering camper was just about half a mile away from the cabin. Jasper's instincts kicked in immediately as he heard attentively. He was awoken again. And so was the twinge on his throat.

The human, a man in his late thirties, was lost from his group. He was exhausted, consumed by it. Fear was overwhelming him as the light started to decay. Night would befall short and he had to get back to his peers. He also felt thirsty, having been roaming these woods for longer than anticipated. Jasper attempted to tune in on his group. Still, the man must indeed be far because he couldn't catch or sense any other emotions so vehemently as he did his.

The man's thirst evoked Jasper's own craving. He hadn't fed in a week, but on humans had been even longer. Abruptly the itch became more irritating, and it soon melted into a profound and dark necessity for blood. Jasper could virtually hear the pulse, savor the gore on his mouth. _Oh, how he had desired that!_ The taste of human blood was uncomparable. He deemed animal's to taste unappealing and, in fact, considerably disgusting. But he was endeavoring on that for Alice, and for himself. Because he wanted to entertain her and be better. But he was never satisfied anymore, always hungry, longing for authentic tasting blood. And that became even more evident then.

Jasper tried to tell himself not to do it. He was battling to not go there and finish the man's life. He had been doing so splendidly until then, with Alice's advice. But now that he was left with his own devils, who was going to stop him? He had to.

Jasper wasn't convinced he was reliable enough.

What would Alice think of him, though?

As he paced the living room anxiously, wishing the man would find his way out of the vampire's radar before Jasper could decide. He monitored as the camper tumbled over a slab and fell, cutting his knee on the ground.

The gash was deep, the blood instantly dripped over his leg. The man had to sit down, throbbing in pain. The scent was far and yet not far enough.

Just a second before it all occurred, Jasper reasoned to himself that he was strong enough to endure it. That he could restrain himself and not do it. He wouldn't bleed out another life. But then the smell of blood reached like a powerful remembrance of what he really was.

Intoxicating.

The burn on his neck became insufferable, and Jasper growled. His eyes were so dark, loaded with the most animalistic impulse. It was like a strong pull.

And he didn't resist it.

* * *

Leaving Jasper behind hadn't been easy. Not because she didn't trust him on his own, but Alice quickly realized how simple it was for her to be near Jasper. He was like taking large dosages of dopamine straight to her veins. The thrill of at last undergoing in flesh and bone so many moments that she had only seen in her wildest dreams, it was inexplicable. Fulfillment didn't begin describing it.

There was unmistakably still a long route for them to trail together. They had only begun knowing each other. As much as Alice had visions, they were solely probable flashes. Nothing positively resembled the real experience. Uncovering his peculiarities, observing how he functioned around her, undergoing his empath abilities. It was all exquisite, so whichever path awaited for them, Alice was enthusiastic about it.

She had stepped out that afternoon, unsure of what the results would unfold to be. Alice witnessed a few possibilities going through her mind, but what transpired with Jasper had been a momentary occurrence, she couldn't have predicted. It included too many determinants to end up on that point.

At the time, Alice was at the movables store, ordering them a metal bed frame. The clerk swore that it was pretty sturdy, although he seemed confused as to why a lady like Alice, so scanty and frail, would desire one of those when she could own the elegant wood carved ones.

"I just deem they are so antiquated, do you not?" She flitted him a smile. It wasn't as if telling the man that she and her partner could easily snap a wooden bed in seconds would do any good. Sometimes being oblivious was the best alternative.

He offered her new mattresses and linens, to which Alice rejected the first but granted to see the second. It wouldn't be all that grave to have one or two extra sets in the house. Alice relished nice beddings to lay on to, even if she couldn't literally sleep. She added a light grey and a white set to her order, along with an embroidered comforter.

Alice had just paid the man who strolled out of the room to fetch her receipt when the vision came. Her body went completely still, her eyes petrified as the flashes came crystal clear. There would be no time for her to run back. His decision was not only made but was likewise in motion. All Alice could do was follow milliseconds ahead of him.

_Jasper scurried through the woods, skimming the trees with the dispatch of a predator after his prey. The man was precisely where Jasper had detected him. Sitting on the branches with a knee covered in fresh and rich blood._

_"Ah! I thought no one was in this area. Please, sir." The relief in the man's face, to Jasper's approach, evaporated pronto when he caught a careful peek at the terrifying creature before him._

_Jasper almost didn't seem human. Eyes clouded with hunger._

_He was still strangely captivating. All the beauty was as terrorizing._

_"Could you—help—?" The man sturred shakingly._

_The horror was palpable. Jasper didn't fiddle with his victims. It was disturbing enough for him without having to frighten the souls even further. He assured himself he would execute it swiftly for the man._

_His teeth were on the man's jugular in a second, tearing through the skin to find what he was craving._

_The shriek made a flock of birds take off rapidly._

_Jasper engulfed in guilt. But the satisfaction of his hunger was a savory feast._

Alice gasped, brought back to presence, noticing an alarmed man before here.

"Miss, are you alright?" He queried worriedly.

"Oh, Sir, I am sorry to have alarmed you. I was just trying to recall if I had turned off the stove, and I am nearly convinced now that I left it on. I must hurry back home at once!" She said rapidly, working to seem the least bit normal.

"Do rush, Miss. We have got your address. We will deliver tomorrow morning."

"Thank you so much!"

Alice was already trotting out the entrance as she called that out.

Once out of eyesight, her speed was too hasty to be perceived by mortal eyes. She raced home with a deceptive faith to intercept Jasper.

But Alice didn't have to be a psychic to acknowledge it was too late for the camper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to check Jalice Week being posted on the JaliceWeek20 collection, all! A lot of great works are being posted there ♡


	7. Two Faces, Same Coin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MUST thank the wonderful @irrelevanttous because if it wasn't for her reading this chapter over and giving me notes, it might have never come out. I always struggle with angst, even when it's mild, so luckily I have this amazing wifey friend to help me get chapters out for you all.
> 
> TFR has been my NaNo project, so by the end of the month I should have it all finished and the updates will be more frequent then. So stick around cause there's a roller coasted about to start!
> 
> Good reading! ♡

Jasper hadn’t cried in almost a century, but he recalled distinguishably the last time. Unexpectedly, it wasn’t during his transformation to the beast he was now. The bite and the venom had caused excruciating pain, but he hadn’t cried. Jasper endured every second until it was over because it was a different kind of pain that could make him cry.

The last time had been in Texas, he was already serving the war when it happened. He had been assigned another evacuation detail, already a Major, and he went off on his horse to get the city cleared before the battles and the invasions. Jasper had hopped off the steed to aid a family in need, the mother had four children with her—a teenage girl, a seven-year-old boy, and twin babies. She could barely hold herself together, the woman was injured, bleeding. The oldest child had informed Jasper she was losing yet another baby. She had to be taken to a hospital fast, or else she wouldn’t make it. He told the girl to take care of her siblings and wait for him there. The mother protested but they all thought it was the best idea. He rushed her to the next town so she would be under medical care, and she was fine from what Jasper learned later on. But he didn’t make it to the children fast enough. He found them all later, but it was too late.

He had never before failed any of his missions to evacuate the cities. Jasper was good at his job, but he had failed that family. In one day a mother had lost all of her children, and he blamed himself for not doing them better, for not thinking that plan through.

That night he cried himself to sleep, questioning his own purposes and what war had brought upon people. What was the point of fighting? He couldn’t answer that question, he just knew he didn’t want to aid any further deaths. Jasper wanted to protect people.

A week after that he was turned, and he killed more in his first years than he did his entire life.

The memories of that happening were surfacing now, as Jasper felt a gutting guilt. It wasn’t normal for him to feel that way anymore. It pained him to feel the fear and panic in his victims, it was an emotion that would haunt Jasper on the days that followed his feeding. But _guilty_ wasn’t something he had experienced in a very long time. Perhaps because he knew Alice’s disappointment was imminent—she would at least see him from what he was: a beast, a loose and unchangeable predator, and she would leave. If that was her decision, he would accept it. They had known for a very short time and although he could feel the strength in their connection, Jasper also knew he would survive. He had learned with time how ephemeral eternity could become, people would come and go often—some by his own hands even—and he knew for a fact that if Alice decided it was too much to handle and left, he would survive.

Long before, Jasper had come to accept the monster that he was. If anything, now was proof of it. He was struck with such strong emotion of guilt and regret and he couldn’t do so much as cry—like he had done when he couldn’t say the children of the poor lady. Not because he didn’t _want_ to cry, but because _physically_ he wasn’t able to, he wasn’t allowed. In his forever frozen haunt, it was all guilty and no outlet to pour out such emotions. He had to drown in them, live forever with the pain, without ever being able to expel all with human simplicity.

What Jasper wasn’t prepared for was the striking worry that he felt a mile away. He thought for a moment someone might have come looking for the hiker, but as the waves grew closer to the house, he was able to differentiate them as Alice’s. Like the sound of a voice, emotions had their own _tone_ , like they were a different type of wave for each person. He had been able to distinguish all his previous coven’s feelings after spending time with them. Maria’s was obviously the easier to tell apart, as he had spent longer with her. Jasper had expected to need some time to be able to read Alice’s as her own with more clarity, but that had happened almost instantly. Although their _relationship_ was still at it’s tuning phase, he could read her better than he had ever read Maria. It impressed him how easy and quick it had happened. He knew so little of the woman and yet it felt as if they’d been together for a lifetime.

The same way he wasn’t expecting to know her aura so well, he was equally surprised by her concern. Jasper had expected disappointment and regret, but not the deep sadness. Perhaps she was sad he had failed and worried they might be exposed, he tried to reason as her emotions kept growing stronger. He was dreading it, knowing she was close, not ready for the disappointment in her face.

She didn’t say a word when she walked through the door, it was like Alice could also feel what he felt. He was strongly holding it all back and _that_ was what she felt when she walked in, the lack of his emotions emanating toward her. In the last few days, they had been pouring all over the house and Alice appreciated the sudden rushes of being around an empath. Now that there was nothing, it was clear he was withholding things—which concerned her deeply. Jasper was standing by the kitchen counter, not able to face her. In a rushed movement she was in front of him, hand cupping his cheek to bring his eyes to her.

“Jasper.” Alice didn’t have to be an empath to read the regret in his red eyes. She had never seen them so strongly bright—not in person, at least. Sometimes, during the visions, she’d get flashes of his eyes. When they first met Jasper had eyes darkened with thirst and then what followed his feeds on animal blood was a faded red. This was a bright red. It still took her breath away for a moment, how even in his worst form he could still be the most beautiful creature. Alice knew then she’d _always_ be drawn to him.

“It’s alright.” She whispered quietly to him, tiptoeing to press her forehead against his—an easy movement now that he was bent down. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

Alice wouldn’t press, not now at least. She knew giving him space would be the best option. But not _all_ the space. She had played it all in her mind as she ran home, fishing the possibilities according to his thoughts and choices. His concern for her leaving was palpable, but what hurt Alice was his ease of walking away if she was the first to do so. She knew with certainty that she’d never leave him over a slip and it bothered her that Jasper didn’t realize it. But that was a talk for another time.

“Take the time you need.” She encouraged, brushing a thumb against his cheek. “What did you do to the body?”

Jasper was bewildered by the question, frowning with a puzzling gaze. Alice figured it out without him having to answer it.

“Was I supposed to _do_ something?” It hadn’t occurred to her that Jasper might just leave it there. When she had her own slips, Alice was careful enough not to leave traces behind, to dispose of the human properly so it couldn’t backtrack to them.

“I’ll take care of it.” She sighed. Now _that_ was something she was dreading, already playing it off in her mind as the decision was made.

“I’ll go with you.”

“It’s alright, I’ve had to do it before too.” Alice gave him a kind smile, but Jasper could tell she wasn’t quite _happy_ about it. She still leaned up to meet his lips and he obliged, kissing her back. “It won’t take long.”

She whispered and before Jasper could protest the need for disposing of a body and grasp her by the waist, Alice was gone and out the door. At least for one thing he was grateful and it was that she hadn’t in fact _left_ _him_.

* * *

When Alice returned, Jasper was sitting by the fireplace anxiously waiting for her return. It felt awkward in the room for a moment but Alice got past it.

“Relax, Jazz. I took care of it.” Like she had told him she would have.

“I still don’t get the need.” He clarified his uneasiness at last.

“We’re taking residence here. I’d prefer not having to flee for a while.” Alice walked up to him, hand spreading across his chest. “There’s still blood on your shirt.” He simply nodded. 

The realization made Alice suddenly _too_ aware of it, the smell taking over the house, even now that it was dried. In her own hunger, Alice recalled, for a brief vivid second, the taste of human blood sliding down her throat, filling her mouth with its sweet flavor. As satisfying as animal blood was, it had a bitter aftertaste that human’s didn’t.

It made her mouth water, her thoughts drifting for a moment to the last time she had drank human blood and the memory far too painful for her, since it had been someone she cared for and knew. Alice reminded herself _why_ she chose to be a vegetarian, all the lives she could spare in eternity and all the homes she wouldn’t tear apart. She might not be the _perfect_ vegetarian vampire out there, but she was trying her best.

Not only that, but Alice wanted Jasper to succeed as well, so she tried to push aside the rush of hunger wanting to take over her, holding her breath so the smell of blood wasn’t intoxicating and clouding her thoughts. At least one of them had to hold the balance of control in their home.

She held the hems of the fabric and pulled his shirt up slowly, untucking it from his pants. Jasper watched her with a slight frown as she took her time undoing the buttons. It wasn’t the movement that caught his attention but the fact she wasn’t looking at him. Her emotions so incredibly contained, it felt as if she was trying to hide something.

“Did I upset you?” Jasper wasn’t used to feeling so helplessly out of control like this, unaware of what was going on.

“No.” She pushed the fabric down his shoulders and arms, removing the stained shirt. With careful eyes, she stared at the blood on it and not the shirtless cowboy in front of her. Jasper felt both confused and slightly hurt. He had grown accustomed, in the past days, to see her eyes so full of appetite toward him.

“It feels like I did.”

“Does it?” She eyed him with a raised eyebrow then, the neutrality of her emotions killing him little by little.

“Alice, please.”

“You have not upset me, Jasper. I’m just giving you space, for when you’re ready to talk.” She busied herself with bringing the shirt to the sink, trying to wash it off. But he felt somehow a hint of something more she was trying to contain.

Then it hit him, the emotion strong like a tsunami when she brought the fabric to her face and smelt it. It wasn’t the act itself that was bothering her but instead the blood, the smell of it taking over the house.

When Jasper walked up to her, he made her stop her attempt to save the fabric.

“It’s ruined, leave it. You know the smell would never come out.” Not for beings like them. Jasper could walk into a room and know when blood had been washed off any surface, no matter the chemicals used to remove it. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Alice told him, a kind smile over her shoulders as he held her elbows, stopping her on her tracks. She let go of the shirt and allowed Jasper to turn her around to see her dark onyx eyes.

“I do. I put you through it.” He understood the hunger, the burning on the neck, and the pain it caused to smell and resist human blood.

“I’ve been doing it longer than you have.” She told herself it shouldn’t upset her this much, yet it did and now that he figured out and he was so kind trying to make her feel better, Alice wasn’t holding it back any longer.

“Still, we are what we are. I know you want the _vegetarian_ lifestyle more than I do.” Jasper confessed, he wasn’t the only one who knew it and Alice confirmed with a nod. “Still, I made you endure the hunger unnecessarily.”

Alice shook her head letting her hands trail up the scars that covered his bare limbs until they were wrapped around his neck.

“I’m not blaming you, Jasper. It’s not an easy habit to break and you were doing splendidly.” She was careful with her next words and although it came naturally, Jasper caught up on that too. “I just realize we see humans differently and that has taken a hit at me, I fear.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you don’t care so much for them.” It was no lie, for Jasper they were preys.

“I guess I see them how they should be for us.”

“Food.” He nodded in agreement and that made Alice sigh, walking off his arms. It left him there confused and lost, watching as Alice brought the shirt to the trash. “To me, they’re not. They’re people, with lives and souls and feelings.”

Alice halted seeing how rigid Jasper got, all of the sudden.

“You think I don’t feel remorse for killing them.”

She bit her lower lip, staring at him for a moment. “Well, no.”

“I can feel everything they experience before I kill them, Alice. I try to make it less painful as possible. Believe me, I’d give _anything_ not to feel their pain.” She could see the hurt he was holding back from her in his eyes, so she sighed, walking up to him.

“Darling, I know. That is _not_ what I’m saying.” She brushed his cheek and then the dimple on his chin, waiting for him to look at her this time. When Jasper finally did, Alice carried on, “I’m saying you do see them differently. They’re meals for you. And I have been approaching all this as _I_ see them. Now I know it won’t help you if I continue. We just have to uh, _change strategies_.” She smiled, knowing that was a term he’d be able to relate to. “I’m not condemning you. I know just how hard it is. I’m upset for not being on guard, for not seeing it coming, not knowing we’d have to do things differently than it was with me.”

That last part sparked his curiosity, but first, he said, “You shouldn’t blame yourself like that.” The guilty washed over him again, Jasper hated this, seeing her blame herself for acts that were solely his own fault.

“Well, what are my gifts worth for if I can’t use them to help you?” There was a grumpy frown on her forehead that Jasper so willingly leaned forward to place a kiss there, brushing off her concern.

Because she didn’t look up to him even then, he raised her chin up to him.

“This is not your fault. _I_ killed that human, you had no way of stopping me.”

“If I hadn’t—“ He stopped her immediately, shaking his head, radiating the most sublime relaxation toward her. “Not fair.” Alice sighed, her head leaning against the shelter of his touch and the welcoming warmth his talents brought her.

“How was it with you? Stopping to feed on them, I mean.” Jasper asked, at last, giving in to the need, the urge he felt to wrap an arm around her, but Alice pulled back, bringing them to the couch instead. Like they had done so many times that week, he sat down first and she slipped on his lap, taking her rightful place where she belonged, right there in his arms. Only then she let him wrap his arms around her again.

“I tried to give them stories when I didn’t know them when I knew I was on the verge to kill. If I didn’t know who they were I’d try to picture them in a happy home, with a family and a warm meal. I’d imagine them coming home to hugs and cheers. That helped put me in the mindset that I didn’t want to be what prevented it.” Jasper nodded, he could see how it made sense for her but just how odd and excruciating it would be for him to do the same.

“Already sharing their emotions, I think that would be even worse for me.” Alice nodded in agreement.

“I see that now. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” He copied her words from before and they both smiled. “Can I ask you something?”

“Fifty-three.” She already knew the question but it was the answer being so low and not itself that shocked him.

“Only?”

Alice nodded, “And you?”

“I don’t think I—“

“You don’t have to lie.” She encouraged, knowing that was his first reaction—not to lie, but to deflect from the answer. “You’re not going to scare me.”

“With three big wars… It was a few thousand. I don’t know the exact number.” The silence sunk into the room. Alice knew there as a number, but she accepted what he wanted to give her for now. “I regret every single one.”

“You don’t ever have to do that again.” She brushed her thumb against his lower lip before leaning to peck his mouth.

* * *

They were lying naked on the floor when the conversation came up again.

“How did you deal with the rebound of drinking human blood?” Jasper asked, making her lift her head from his chest to look at him.

“I fed on animals more often, for one. I tried to stay away from humans as much as possible, you know how the lure can be, even when you just fed.” It was almost like an instinct, an imprinted memory, but even talking about it made Alice’s throat ache a little. “In the beginning, the incidents were more frequent, but with time I was able to spread them out a little more.”

Jasper seemed to think for what was a long moment, longer from vampires especially. Alice waited patiently, although the question had appeared in her sight right before he voiced it out, “When was the last time?”

“A little over two years ago.” Placing a peck to his chest, she moved a little up so their faces were at the same height on the made-up bed on the floor by the living room fireplace. “Would it help if I told you about it?”

He suspected she already knew it would be good for him to hear it, so he nodded.

“I’d like that, yeah.”

Alice recalled it like it was yesterday. Considering time was nothing but a mark in forever to vampires like them, it wasn’t so wild to think it had in fact happened not long from yesterday. She was in Vermont, spending some time in the North due to the summer suns that took cities in the South for more hours in the day at that time of the year. She moved around in the United States more so than other continents because Alice knew her meeting with Jasper could come at any given time.

Sometimes she would venture to Canada, but always areas with a lot of life and things to do. Alice hated being alone _and_ bored. She believed the busier she was, the duller it would be to brave through those years before they met. Alice knew too that her encounter with Jasper was close, so for that, the vampire could be glad.

“I was in Vermont, I had befriended a few humans up there and I was working even. It was all very easy at the time. There had been a long time since the last slip and I knew our meeting was getting closer and closer, so I was more relaxed, you know? I told myself that it would be alright to join my human friends on a night out.

“The girls were having a ball, we went to this diner. I was pretending to eat here and there, they were all sort of used to me telling I followed a very strict diet for my health.” Alice had learned then that all thought it was why she was so short, thin and pale, that she might have a health condition or something like that. She followed suit to often hint such confirmations.

“It was all going so well, but I saw it happening a millisecond before it did. This sweet girl that worked the front desk in the telephone company, she cut her finger with the knife while trying to demonstrate something to us. I was about ready to jump over Claire in the booth when it happened. The smell of her blood really took over me.” Alice remembered the aching, the burning spreading down her throat while the girl tried to contain the bleeding. “I was able to hold myself, but Claire rushed up to get napkins for the mess on the table while Miriam rushed up to the ladies room, so I had a clear path. The animal in me spoke louder and I followed her to the bathroom.

“She didn’t stand a chance, but the poor thing looked so relieved to see me there, coming to help her.

‘Oh, Alice, I’m such a clumsy!’ She told me with an apologetic smile. I said I was sorry and Miriam told me not to be foolish. I think she only grasped what was going on when I promised it wouldn’t hurt. I couldn’t keep the promise of course… I had to cover her mouth through it but the taste of the blood…” Alice felt her mouth water as she recalled the memory, the burning on the back of her throat coming back to life somehow. “I told myself I was being foolish, that we need some blood every once in a while, that her blood was worth the hassle. But after she was gone, I felt terrible. I _knew_ her, she was a friend…

“Not only that, but I had to pretend I didn’t know a thing. I put my own identity to risk there when I did that.” Jasper, who had been listening to the story, seemed quite shocked by the revelation. Alice seemed always so controlled.

He could feel the palpable hunger arousing in her emotions, which worried him the slightest. If she was the controlled one of them, he couldn’t quite picture what it would look like if Alice was the one to lose control.

“How _did_ you get away with not being exposed?”

“I fled with her before Claire could find us and I took care of it. She telephoned Miriam’s place that night and then me. I told Claire I had taken Miriam home but didn’t know why she wasn’t picking up. I lingered in town for a few months not to look suspicious. There was an investigation into her disappearance, but they dropped with the lack of proof that something _had_ happened. I haven’t been to Vermont since. I still feel terrible for how all went down.”

He could tell the story upset her and he sent that relaxing wave toward her. Alice smiled, knowingly the sentiment wasn’t originating from her own self, but appreciating that he had taken the lead to want her to be alright.

“It’s why I chose not to feed from humans. I think how one could be a friend, someone I was growing to care for.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you stayed away from them in general?” She nodded to his question. Having no memory of her past self, Alice _liked_ being around humans.

“It would be easier.”

Alice didn’t have to tell Jasper that she enjoyed and wanted to be among humans and although he might not understand that appeal, he accepted Alice because she did the same to him.

Still, he asked, “Why do you, then?”

Although it was quite clear to Alice herself, admitting it out loud felt shameful, embarrassing. Her eyes met his, the one she had so long waited for, the man she had accompanied in her visions for twenty-eight years, who was never really there until so recently.

“I felt lonely.” She admitted quietly.

Jasper caught up to her emotions, the mix of joy and sorrow confusing him until he could separate their meanings. As difficult as his upcoming had been, he had had friends. He had a lover. Company. It wasn’t like Alice’s, all alone with no recollection of her past self or what she was even. All she had to rely on were visions, uncertainties of the future. He couldn’t imagine how she had coped, it was hard for him to picture himself excelling it so well.

“You’re the bravest person I know.” He told her, honesty pouring over in his words.

She smiled small, looking down to his chest as her finger trailed it so gently, mapping the scars that covered it.

“I knew I would be alone for long and sometimes that was alright.” The emotion that struck Jasper made his heart tighten, the deep and upsetting loss, the feeling of not belonging invading him from Alice. It impressed him because it was an emotion he knew too well of—not having a direction or purpose. “Sometimes you wouldn’t show in my visions for months, even when I tried to look for something of you.”

This time, the tightness in her throat wasn’t because of hunger, but that scary realization she had had when those would happen.

“I would be so scared I had lost you, that you had been gone without me ever getting the chance to meet you.” Jasper could tell if they were humans, her eyes would be watering, given the intense sadness he was now battling against. It was strong, bigger than the emotion of feeling her own self lost, losing Jasper was something that had haunted her for long.

He hadn’t grasped until then how important he truly was to her, how pure and beautiful her emotions were. Every time more, Jasper felt more inclined to be at her side at all times—for eternity if that’s what they had. The strongest want to protect that pure soul taking over him.

Jasper didn’t care he was a monster, no. _Because_ he was a monster that he could protect her more than the rest. And so he would.

“Then what would happen?” He wondered, caressing her lower back for a moment.

“You would show up again. With Peter or Maria.” He felt the bitterness in the mention of his previous partner and he could understand why. Now that they were together he couldn’t quite picture her in anyone else’s arms but his own, so he could only _imagine_ it wasn’t exactly easy to actually _see_ him in another woman’s embrace. “And I’d feel lonely.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through this.” He said sincerely and Alice nodded. “Why didn't you come to find me?” That made her smile.

“I thought about it. Things wouldn’t have been the same.” That gave him a gut feeling that he might have killed her if it had happened and Jasper couldn’t bear to even think of himself doing that. “The humans were my best option.”

He had to agree, looking at that point of view, that things had happened between them exactly how they were supposed to.

“You’re here now, that’s all that matters,” Alice told him quietly.

He lifted his body up to meet her lips, kissing her longly for a second. Jasper was surprised when Alice broke off the kiss.

“We should hunt though. I know you must be stuffed, but believe me, it’s the best method.”

“And you could really use it as well.” Jasper pointed out, brushing her cheek. He could feel her starvation but Jasper could also gape the intense onyx orbs.

“I do, yes.” It felt nice having someone who knew her so well, so thoroughly and easily, and the sentiment made her lean in to peck his lips. “And when we’re back we can pick up where we left off this morning before I left.”

“Isn’t that what we just did?” Alice grinned and Jasper had to join in with a smirk.

“There’s always room for more of that.”


	8. Monsters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy 2021! If you thought I had given up on this fic—you were almost right! I spent a little while with a big writer's block in this one, but as promised to one too many people, I'm not giving up on this WIP, you'll just have to be a tiny bit patient with me!
> 
> That said, big thanks to @mtwalker who helped me ENORMOUSLY with getting this and the next chapter finished up. Thanks for your help and your encouragement and patience. ♡
> 
> Ah, some angst is coming in the next chapters so be ready and good luck! ;)

The scent of moist grass bore the entire forest when the tempest inched down in the area their cabin was located; humming of birds an overpowering sound over the thin drops still falling from the trees. All was peaceful, so still and quiet after a storm. It was likewise the most vulnerable of times, for it was when predators struck.

Alice and Jasper, the deadliest two in those woods, sped through the trees side by side, tracking their prey. She located hers first, taking a turn Jasper wasn't anticipating. He understood she had to do her thing to quell the hunger hounding her ever since their conversation about the slip.

Jasper wasn't exactly hungry, but he followed Alice's advice and feeding anyway. Because he felt satiated—and on some level even stuffed with blood—he wasn't quartering all that effort. Jasper did snatch a bear that had been at clear range and fed from it until he couldn't anymore. Alice was a few meters from him, and he observed when she raced to another quarry, jumping a second creature.

He felt overwhelmed from the bear and sat to wait for his mate to finish up. While there, Jasper examined Alice in her element, ambushing the animal and snapping its head before she could feed from it. He considered how humane it was that she was killing it before feeding, so it wouldn't suffer. It made Jasper wonder if she had the same means when feeding from humans.

Alice would make an extraordinary hunter, in his opinion. For a vampire who had a forthcoming all on her own, misplaced in eternity, she grasped a lot. Had she been tutored, Alice would have made an impressive soldier as well—not that it was a fate Jasper coveted for her. Jasper desired to keep her away from any kind of confrontation.

Patrolling her so closely, that sweet angel she was, Jasper could understand all the appeal of spending immortality with that woman. Admittedly, he didn't quite see himself walking away from her—even in the brief time they had been together. But if there was something Jasper knew was that circumstances, and people, could change—particularly when one had eternity. He knew the emotions they shared were noble, serious, and real. Jasper had spent too long of a time in an uproar; he couldn't be positive of  _ what _ that sublime sensation was. He'd been accustomed to different types of love; if this was it, there was still a lot to be determined about it. But then again, they had time—something humans lacked.

When Alice joined him, Jasper beamed, extending a hand for her to follow him at the top of the rock, overseeing the forest. She rested beside him silently.

"Only one bear?" Alice commented after a moment, noticing the animal not too far from them.

"I'm still feeling quite full," he explained with a faint smile.

"It's natural. When you begin feeling hungry again, we should positively hunt right away," Alice encouraged. The twist on Jasper's expression made her glare in more seriousness. "What is it?"

He shook his head, deciding to trail it off, but her eyes were resolute. "I'm still adjusting to the  _ tang _ . It's nothing, honestly."

"It's different, I know." Alice pulled her legs up toward her chest, resting her chin on her knees as she contemplated the sky.

"Can I admit something?"

She deduced his eyes had been on her as she signed after shifting to find his gaze. Although Jasper assumed she knew, it came as a shock to Alice when he spoke. "I don't particularly enjoy the diet."

"Oh."

"I thought you would know." Jasper abruptly stared, baffled.

"Well, it's not so much of a decision but rather an inclination. I probably had no time to see if you only just decided to tell me," Alice explained, and he nodded, confirming her suspicion. "Why don't you like it?"

Jasper immediately sensed the sign of disappointment that Alice was striving to conceal from him. As they spent time together, she had been reading more and more into his gifts. Being an empath, Jasper had learned feelings weren't set in stone—like Alice's visions, they could change and be changed. The culmination between him and Maria had explicitly been how great she became on manipulating him. The contrast was his previous partner never sought to hide things to  _ spare _ him, which he could tell was what Alice was doing now.

The idea of disappointing her troubled Jasper; he hesitated thinking about his response to that puzzle. "You have to admit it's distasteful, especially compared with what I've been used to."

Alice nods, to that much she could recognize. It wasn't as lascivious as drinking from humans, but she preferred it over the baggage that came with slaughter.

"And I did just feed from one or two," Jasper reminded.

"I guess you're not wrong."

"Yet, you're disappointed." Usually, he'd divert from the topic, but Jasper carried on. He cared about Alice; he desired things to strive between them. He had seen with eternity that it took effort for relationships to endure, not just physical attraction—to which they had in abundance.

"I'm not."

"Alice." He peered at her, brow raised and a delightful grin.

"I know, I know. You feel  _ everything _ ." Her annoyed huffing told Jasper maybe Alice did want to escape the conversation, but he didn't cave. "I hoped this was more natural to you as it was for me. I'm not blaming you," she was quick to clarify, glancing up at him. "I don't relish on your suffering."

"I'm not."

Alice had difficulty hiding her shock.

"It does pain me when it's occurring, afterward not so much. It's our primary drive we're fighting against here, after all," he reminded her. Alice felt genuinely bothered this time, he missed the moment it had flipped, but he sure caught the emotion later.

Alice had to remind herself she was sentencing Jasper for a  _ future him _ that she had seen, one that would not come to be if Alice kept ramming his boundaries. She knew the consequence of that; it wasn't a pleasant one. Her aid would be crucial to him and to them.

With that in mind and the wave of reassurance charging toward her, Alice gave Jasper a brief nod.

"I guess I pushed you too hard, too fast, I'm sorry," Alice said. He wasn't expecting an apology, so Jasper just signed. "Maybe we can come up with a different plan. If you still crave to feed from humans every other time, we could make the shift smoother."

"Looking the other way would upset you." Jasper didn't question; he somehow knew that to be inevitable. "That is the last thing I want to do."

"It wouldn't—Well, all right, maybe a little. But it would also help you, I can  _ see _ it. And in the long run, that will be important," Alice explained as she sat up straight, hand stretching to hold his. "And that is  _ all _ that I want, Jazz."

She had seen him through so much twinge, an avalanche of torturous agony, now Alice wished that he could have a more peaceful existence. Preferably by her side.

Back in the cabin, Alice busied with arranging the bedroom. She had seen the deliveries arrive in a few minutes, and having the area unblocked would have them out flying. It wasn't so much worry for Jasper being around them—as she planned to send him off when they arrived—Alice wanted to get this finished and fixed; their life ordered and following on track.

Jasper sat nearby, reading a book about the first war, when her eyes shot up and halted. He faded off her sight, and all too fast, Alice saw big and bloody eyes. She wasn't positive who they belonged to, but they were liquid fresh, glistering with death. It uttered her panic immediately, agonized over what Jasper was bound to do.  _ Was she judging him, though? _ Alive thought to herself, h _ ow _ could she know it was him if all she'd seen were eyes, vivid and sharp red.

Squinting back to her senses, she focused on Jasper, now standing in front of her. A guarding arm around her and the other squeezing her hand. She vaguely caught his voice in the background, as if it calling her from a distance and not right next to her ear.

"What did you see?" he insisted. "Alice. What did you see?"

Alice understood his distress was over her alarm when he sent a surge of serenity toward her.

"It's nothing." Alice shook her head softly and fixed a smile over at Jasper, who frowned, unconvinced. "I'm not sure yet. It was a swift flash." That much was true. Alice had no notion what it implied or why it had shown up to her, but it did, and the concern was indisputable.

"Why did it disturb you so much?"

She lamented, inclining up to peck his lips. "Sometimes they simply do, don't agonize about it too much," Alice promises, and Jasper nods.

Resuming her clean up, Alice ventured to occupy Jasper's attention with small chatting. She had great ideas for their bedroom. The larger frame arriving would eat up some of the space, but Alice still wished to make it homey.

Jasper had joined in assisting her and proposed that they get rid of the nightstands—there wasn't really a point when they didn't truly sleep. He'd argued they could store the items there in the office next door, since he didn't actually have that many things to keep.

"We'll get you books and memorabilia and trinkets," Alice said sweetly, skipping to meet him on the other side of the room; her arms enveloped around his neck; nose nuzzling his cheek when he hoisted her off the floor.

"I don't need any of those." His tone was soft, planting a peck on her lips when he turned his face to her, praising the delicacy in her beauty. All he needed was there, his whole world.

"Well, there must be  _ something _ we can get you, Major Whitlock." She grinned, smoothing her lips to his again.

"I did enjoy that game we played the other day."

"Chess?" Alice raised a brow, but she wasn't really surprised. She'd had many visions of Jasper and their future brother Emmett, both men sitting across from each other in a light and open living room, an elaborate game of chess in front of them.

"It's very strategic. I like the nature of it," Jasper explained and Alice nodded rapidly.

"We could get a nice set, something that—" Alice couldn't finish her words as another strong vision clouded her senses.

_ There were two bodies on the floor, looking lifeless, drained of all blood. The soft pink of the cheeks had disappeared to give place to a mauve, almost pale purple on their faces. The two men had their throats completely dilacerated, the only last specks that remained of blood smeared across their necks. _

_ A sloppy affair, the way their flesh had been pierced. Positively done by  _ someone _ with greed and lack of control—almost as a feral newborn damage in their naive frenzy. It was gruesome; the desperation petrified in their eyes said too much of the pain they had endured. _

_ Alice felt hunger in her vision, of whoever had done it. The intensity of the emotion so palpable felt almost as if it was her own. _

_ Her eyes shifted from the bodies to the shadow standing out the light, but before she could discern the face of the predator, she was back to her senses. _

"Alice." Jasper was shaking her now—because he didn't think she could get more startled and pale, but it seemed the  _ nightmare _ drained the rest of life off her. When he was so worried, it was arduous to stay focused and not wave all his concern, and she slumped in the feeling of his fear for a second, for she too was in thorough desperation.

"What's happening, Alice?" He yanked back the worry to expand tranquillity, and Alice was finally able to breathe, staring at him with a frown.

"I saw two men… Dead… Here." She was working to make up what had happened and  _ how _ it occurred.

Jasper was about to protest and hold her back in the present, but her eyes drifted off again in search of answers.

"Tell me, what do you see?" He directed this time, an arm still clutching her steady, and his emotions still flooding sheer peace.

Alice focused.

_ The men were nothing but a pile of flesh now, on top of each other, tossed there already dead. A figure crawled in the corner, but it was too dark; she couldn't see their face. Instead, she searched the men, inspected their faces. _

"They're older…" She whispered quietly, eyes still on the sight.

"Very well. Do we know them?"

"I can't tell—"

_ She couldn't see them too well, their frightened petrification and mutilation of the throats making them look disfigured, nearly unrecognizable. Alice inspected the wounds closely. They seemed different, like they had been done by various vampires—or at separate times. _

"The bites are different. One is bigger, sloppier," she told him.

"What else is there?" Jasper continued to guide her through, his fingers smoothing down her spine as other relaxing strings caught her perfectly.

_ Alice could sense the headache building, having to seek for the minor details in a vision that felt so terrifying. She stared closer at the bodies, trying to get any evidence of who they could be. Then a voice, in the vision, hindered her investigation. _

_ "We have to go, we must leave," a female voice called out. _

_ "We'll deal with this," the male voice sounded firm. When Alice peered around for the source, she saw it coming from outside. Like a voyer of the conversation, Alice approached the front door with care—as if the people in the vision could see her. _

_ There was a vase, one of her favorite, shattered near the door, and a pool of blood. She assumed the source of it all, working to resolve the puzzle. _

_ "Last time, nothing happened," the man said. _

_ "Not this time." _

_ "What have you seen, Alice?" _

_ She saw herself and Jasper outside, both with their backs to the door, where she watched the vision roll out. _

_ "Please trust me, we can't stay, Jazz. At least not for long." _

_ "We'll fix this. I'm sorry—" _

_ "Don't. It's all right." _

Alice allowed out a breath, looking at Jasper when the vision vanished, and she faded back.

"I think you killed them," she said with a lump on her throat.

Jasper drew back almost instantly, and she felt the pain dripping from him. Desperate to comfort him, Alice reached out for his hand, not allowing Jasper to get distant now. It hadn't happened, and she always believed things could be prevented—even when the vision looked so solid.

"Jazz."

"Perhaps I should go."

"No!" Alice pleaded, tugging him toward her. He reacted to her need for his presence, steadily sinking into her pull with a nod. He wouldn't go; he wanted to stay  _ and not kill _ . "Maybe we can still change it."

Jasper agreed, waiting for her frown to relax. Alice searched the visions again, looking back into the images that had shown up, for details she could have missed; his hands were on her again, soothing and protecting.

"Tell me what you find," Jasper encouraged quietly into her ear.

_ Jasper pulled back from her and nodded, briefly leaning in to peck her forehead. _

_ "I'll be out back," he proposed encouragingly. He would be far, but just enough so that he could calm her down still. Jasper was gone in seconds. Alice strolled to the door, opening to greet the two men with the brightest smile, feeling the waves Jasper was still conveying her way. _

_ "Good afternoon, Miss," one of the men, the one that had aided her at the store, greeted. He bowed softly, still clearly mesmerized by her appearances, like all people were. The other one, a taller guy with not much of a patience, smiled briefly but also did give Alice a second look. _

_ "Afternoon," Alice inclined her head briefly and made space for the frame. _

_ "Where should we put it?" _

_ The men eyed the narrow steps with painful gazes and Alice swung her head instantly. She wanted them out of there as fast as possible anyhow. _

_ "You may leave it here. My husband can get it upstairs later. We're still fixing some things there," Alice explained casually. _

_ They were quick to nod, and the taller one handed Alice a paper to sign. She scribbled far too quickly, not minding it too much. Alice turned around on her ankles after she was given a copy and the movement accidentally knocked down a vase. Typically she would have sped to save it, but in the humans' presence, she let the object drop to the floor and shred to pieces. _

She came back too quickly with a gasp and looked up at Jasper.

"It's the delivery!"

On queue, the doorbell rang on their house, and Alice watched, helplessly, the entire vision unfold in her mind just a millisecond before it all occurred.

_ Everything happened extremely fast. The smaller guy reached for the vase pieces and so did Alice. _

_ "Oh please, don't worry about that." Alice dismissed, attempting to collect the remains on her own, but the man was persistent. _

_ "It's all right, Miss!" _

_ In a very brief second, he captured a crack with too much enthusiasm, unbeknownst to him that his excitement to help would be his downfall. The cut was deep enough to quickly pool blood on his hand; for Alice's eyes to grow black just as fast. The animal in her awoke and all the delicacy and the self-restraint in her wouldn't be enough to hold it back—like that time she had murdered her work friend or the time before where a late night walker didn't stand a chance. _

_ She wasn't Alice anymore. She was nothing but a vampire—eager for human blood—when she snapped the short man's neck, and her teeth carved his jugular. The warmth of the blood undertook her entire body, satisfying a thirst of  _ far too long _. When her eyes opened up again, they darted up to the taller man, abruptly terrified by the turn of events. He would scream, but Jasper emerged in front of him before Alice could reach her next pray. _

_ The feral beast hissed at her mate. _

_ "I'll take him, the other is still alive and he'll turn if you don't finish him," Jasper said coldly, strategic. Only then Alice grew aware of the grunts of agony. _

_ She briefly saw Jasper snap the other man out before she returned to her victim. _

_ When there was no more life to down, Alice stood up, mouth dripping with blood and her eyes two piercing rubies. _


End file.
